y the round brown head of a blubber-men showed in the inner
entrance. They were trapped, front and rear, and confronted by the
deadliest animal in the sea.

A second they watched it, frozen immobile; then the whale's great body
curved and its flukes went up, and by purest instinct the men dove for
the niche at their feet. Head to head, they arrived in it, and just in
time, for the great jaws of the killer barely missed their snap.

As the monster curved past, the swirling water of its passage nearly
dislodged the torpooners, and they made haste to jam themselves into the
crevice as tightly as they dared for the safety of their suits.

The whale whipped around in a narrow circle and returned. Its pointed
teeth gleamed as it snapped shut its jaws and muzzled its hard, wicked
snout into Ken's ribs. Again it circled and streaked for the niche; and,
helpless, Kenneth Torrance lay there as the beast tried to slide its
head into it. He felt more of the terrifying nuzzling of the snout. But
the creature could not dislodge him.

"Can't bring his teeth to bear," he muttered with a certain relief.
"Niche isn't high enough. We're safe, I guess, for a couple of minutes.
Unless the blubber-men come in and kill him like they did the one Chan
followed last week."

* * * * *

For several minutes the sea-beast continued its frantic attempt to reach
the two humans, and then its attacks became desultory. During one
respite Ken managed to get up his flashlight and send its beam out over
the floor--and what he discovered was the essence of irony. Directly
opposite, on the floor by the wall, lay a familiar long slim shape, its
stern tipped by rudder-planes and propeller, its metal flanks gleaming
in the white ray. The torpoon. And utterly useless--a heartbreaking
jest--unless they could reach it.

But a slight hope grew in the men at its discovery. They had come to the
right trap, after all. Probably the whale had dislodged the shell from
the wall with fluke-blows--possibly, too, the blows had sprung its seams
and opened the engine-compartment to water....

Ken occupied himself with the problem of how to get to it. It held their
only hope. But with all his racking his brains he could think of no way
but to make a rush for it. If he could get inside, the torp, lying flat
on the ground, would be reasonably safe from the killer until he could
get it running.

Through the face-shields, he met his companion's ey