of life.

The boys stared at the great, still body, lying quiet in the gathering
dusk and haze. Neither seemed to feel the slight trembling of the boat
that might have warned them. Not a word was spoken until Billy, in a
whisper, directed Bobby to pull the boat a few feet nearer.

"But we're movin' already," he added, in a puzzled way.

The boat was very slowly approaching the squid. The motion was hardly
perceptible, but it was real.

"'Tis queer!" said Bobby.

He turned to take up the oars. What he saw lying over the port gunwale
of the boat made him gasp, grip Billy's wrist and utter a scream of
terror!

"We're cotched!"

The squid had fastened one of its tentacles to the punt. The other was
poised above the stern, ready to fall and fix its suckers. The onward
movement of the punt was explained.

Billy knew the danger, but he was not so terrified as to be incapable of
action. He was about to spring to the stern to strike off the tentacle
that already lay over the gunwale; but as he looked down to choose his
step he saw that one of the eight powerful arms was slowly creeping over
the starboard bow.

He struck at that arm with all his might, missed, wrenched the ax from
the gunwale, and struck true. The mutilated arm was withdrawn. Billy
leaped to the stern, vaguely conscious in passing that another arm was
creeping from the water. He severed the first tentacle with one blow.
When he turned to strike the second it had disappeared; so, too, had the
second arm. The boat seemed to be free, but it was still within grasp.

In the meantime the squid had awakened to furious activity. It was
lashing the water with arms and tail, angrily snapping its great beak
and ejecting streams of black water from its siphon-tube. The water was
violently agitated and covered with a black froth.

In this the creature manifested fear and distress. Had it not been
aground it would have backed swiftly into the deep water of the basin.
But, as if finding itself at bay, it lifted its uninjured tentacle high
above the boat. Billy made ready to strike.

By this time Bobby had mastered his terror. While Billy stood with
uplifted ax, his eyes fixed on the waving tentacle overhead, Bobby
heaved mightily on the oars. The boat slowly drew away from that highly
dangerous neighborhood. In a moment it was beyond reach of the arms, but
still, apparently, within reach of the tentacle. The tentacle was
withdrawn a short distance; then like a fl