“Hello there—you mermaids! Are you still there?”
“He must be near us!” Doris exclaimed. “If not—why would he call us ‘mermaids’?”
* * * * * * * *
At that same instant Dave was experiencing a thrill. Arrived at a spot opposite a broad shelf on the perpendicular wall, he and Johnny found themselves within five feet of the rock. Vegetation, which had been thinning out, was just disappearing.
And then Dave saw it—a long, wavering arm, reaching out for the steel ball. Involuntarily, he started back from the window. Then he laughed.
A second arm appeared. Then, a third.
“Octopus!” he whispered to Johnny. “Such a monster!” Instantly his light was on, and Johnny’s movie camera was grinding away.
“Only one of his kind I’ve ever seen!” Dave was thrilled to the tips of his toes. “Wish he’d climb on board and let us take him up. He won’t do that, but I’ll get him, all the same! Some time I’ll get him!
“How ugly he is! See how his eyes shine, Johnny! People sure would throng around him in an aquarium! Put him in with some gorgeous, tropical fish and you’d have a ‘beauty and the beast’ show! You—”
Suddenly he stopped speaking, to stare straight at the wall. They were moving away! There could be no doubt of it. Fascinated by the strangeness of the situation, he and Johnny sat motionless while the octopus faded from sight. Two yards—three—five—ten—twenty—they were swinging off! And behind him was a second wall, against which the window of the steel ball might crack like an egg shell.