Eight
Echoes of the outboard's roaring motor came back from the trunks of palm trees that lined the lagoon's shore as the tiny boat raced across the water. Deirdre was ashen-white. She turned her eyes from the water, and they fell on the round raw places on Terry's leg where the sucker-disks had bruised it horribly. She shuddered. She still had the sensation of being pursued by the monster. Back where Deirdre's spear had finally liberated Terry, startled and convulsive motions continued, followed by a final gigantic splash. Terry drove the boat on at top speed.
The monster sank again in the spot where the lagoon was deepest. It had come from depths where there was no light; from an abyss where blackness was absolute. Now, having lost its victim, it returned peevishly to such darkness as it could secure.
Terry said curtly, as the small boat raced for the Esperance and the wharf, "That creature was driven up from the Luzon Deep into the lagoon to replace the gadget-carrying fish we speared!"
Deirdre stammered a little.
"Your l-leg.... You're bleeding...."
"I'm pretty well skinned in a couple of places," he said shortly. "That's all."
"Could it be poisonous?"
"Poison," said Terry, "is a weapon for the weak. This thing's not weak! I'm all right. And I'm lucky!"