The effect was electrical and fatal to the octopus.
It received the whole charge of a number of thousand volts. At once its huge arms relaxed, and it sank back.
The Dolphin was freed from its encumbrance, and now could go ahead with ease.
The inky cloud which had obscured the water had now become dispelled. The searchlight’s rays flashed everywhere.
But the silver whale was nowhere to be seen.
It had made good its escape. Once more it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Certainly the outlook was discouraging. But Frank Reade, Jr., had the right kind of pluck.
He would never give up while there was a certainty that the silver whale was in existence.
“We will find him again!” he declared. “Possibly he is even now not far off.”
“Perhaps on the surface,” ventured Stanhope.