knew what that meant. The octopi ship had grasped
them with another of its hawser arms, and was pulling them away. But
where to? One of those mound cities? His brain was a turmoil as he
tried to imagine what was before them. But all he could do was lie
there and wait.

The American craft was towed for perhaps ten minutes--ten ages to her
commander--then coasted slowly to a pause, and with a sharp jar
settled into rest. As she did so, every light in her hull went
suddenly out.

It had been bad enough with the lights on, but the darkness was far
worse. The submarine was a tomb--as silent as one, and full of men who
lived and yet were dead. Hemmy Bowman's voice came no more to Wells.
He was alone with his moiling doubts and fears and unanswerable
questions, and he knew that every other man there was alone with them,
too....

As his eyes became partially accustomed to the darkness, he could
distinguish vaguely the forms of the familiar mechanisms above him. A
slight noise grew suddenly and resolved itself into a prolonged
scraping along the outer hull of the submarine. At intervals it paused
and gave way to a series of sharp, definite taps.

Keith realized what those sounds signified: the octopi were striving
to find some entrance to the _NX-1_! This, he told himself, was the
end. The creatures would break through; water would rush in, and every
man would drown. For the face-shields of their sea-suits were open!

The dull scrapings ran completely around the motionless submarine,
punctuated with the same staccato tappings. By the movement of the
sound, Wells realized the octopi were approaching the lower starboard
exit port. And as they neared that port, the noise abruptly stopped.

Then for some minutes silence fell. Next, the commander heard what was
unmistakably the exit port's water chamber being filled--and a moment
later emptied again. The devilish creatures had solved the puzzle of
the means of entrance!

* * * * *

In the awful darkness the inner door of the port swung open. A slow,
slithering sound came to Wells' ears. He sensed, though he could not
see, the presence of alien creature. An odor struck his nostrils--that
of fish....

A deliberate something crawled directly across one outstretched arm,
and another across his legs. And above him loomed a monstrous,
complicated shadow, which, after a moment, slowly melted from his line
of vision. Panicky, he strove again to bri