Read 02 South Sea Adventure for Free Online Page B

hole? It was half in and half out, something almost as black as the hole. It was a bulbous baggy mass of no definite shape. In it were two eyes. They were small slanting eyes with a frightfully evil expression and they were looking straight at him.
    A chill ran through him as he realized that here, lying doggo, waiting for a victim to come too close, concealing itself by taking on the colour of its surroundings like a chameleon, was a full-grown octopus!
    He was horrified but not surprised. Where there were little fellows in the shallows it was only natural that there might be bigger ones in deeper water. But he hadn’t expected to share the same cave with one.
    Taking a deep breath - for he knew that it might have to last him a long time if he tangled with this beast - he swam down towards the entrance with strong swift strokes. His head, arms, shoulders emerged into the blessed freedom of the ocean. Another stroke and he would be safe.
    Something lightly slipped around his ankle. He was gently drawn back into the cave. He struggled to free himself. But the grip on his ankle was as firm as it was gentle. Roger’s hand went to his knife - or where his knife should be. But the knife and the belt to which it was attached were with the slacks he had stripped off and left on the reef above.
    He seized the tentacle and tried to pull it away from his ankle. He could see that the tentacle was lined with two rows of suction cups. He got his ankle loose from the beast’s vacuum grip - only to feel another tentacle go around his other leg, and another slide softly over his shoulder.
    Now he yelled for help. Hal and the rest must be on the reef just above his head waiting for him to come up. They would hear him and come. The yell used up most of his precious breath. If he did
    not get air in the next half-minute he would pass out. He fought to reach the top of the cave. Seizing the lumps of coral that projected from the wall he tried to pull himself up.
    The Old Man of the Sea kept a heavy arm over his shoulder. Roger could not dislodge it. With all his might he thrust his shoulder forward, jamming the tentacle against some sharp coral.
    A sound exactly like a human groan came from the octopus. It relaxed its grip on his shoulder and he was able to slide free. His legs were still held. But he managed to break water and draw breath.
    Then he yelled - and how! He had never yelled as loud at any ball game.
    ‘Hey, Hal! For the love o’Mike! Octopus! Hal! Hurry!’
    He felt a sharp pang of remorse for the trick he had played upon his brother. Pretending he was in trouble, he had seriously worried his friends. Now that he was in real trouble - would they think he was just fooling again? The boy who had cried ‘Wolf’ once too often…
    The octopus was tugging at his legs. He yelled again and put his heart into it.
    ‘Hal! Honest! An octopus’s got me!’
    He just had time to gulp air before he was dragged again beneath the surface.
    Now the great arms were closing in on him, around his shoulders, his chest, his stomach, his legs.
    He remembered the boa-constrictor of his Amazon adventure. But these tentacles were like eight boa-constrictors all attacking at once. They began tightening upon him, cramping his stomach, crowding his lungs, retarding his heartbeat. A little more of this terrific pressure and his heart must stop.
    The light was partly shut off as someone or something came into the entrance of the cave. It must be Hal. Roger twisted about so that he could see. What he saw was the great head of a tiger shark. The scavenger of the sea had smelled the blood running from Roger’s scratches made by the coral.
    The unexpected visit had a remarkable effect upon the octopus. It at once loosened its grip on the boy’s body. It turned an angry purple.
    Its sac of a body swelled as it drew in water. The sac suddenly contracted and the octopus shot like a torpedo towards its enemy. It went through the water so fast that the eye could