I had not proceeded far, for wading was a matter of extreme difficulty, when a whip-like object seized my leg like a vice. The sensation was paralysing, for it seemed as if I was being burnt in a score of places at once. Like a flash I realized my danger. I was in the grip of an octopus!
Before I could take any steps to free myself from the loathsome embraces of the octopus, another tentacle fastened itself round my leg, while others writhed menacingly in an attempt to seize their prey. The creature's body seemed but about the size of a sheep's head, while each of the arms or tentacles was less than a yard in length.
Retaining its hold on the rocks with a pair of its arms, the hideous brute began to increase its grasp on my leg, while at the union of the slimy tentacles I could distinguish a pair of small, protruding eyes and a formidable beak. That beak was slowly approaching my naked flesh, to rend it asunder.
Being without shoes, for I had kicked them off when I began swimming, I was unable to stamp on the creature with my yet free foot, though any attempt to do so might have led to my undoing, as I had all my work cut out to prevent myself from being capsized. Once prone on those slippery rocks, my fate was sealed.
Then I bethought me of my knife, which I had thrust into my belt. Gripping it dagger-wise, I braced myself to overcome a sickening sensation of fear, and plunged it to the hilt betwixt the eyes of the hideous creature.
'Twas only to be likened to cutting a leather bag filled with jelly--once the steel had ripped through the outer skin there seemed no resistance to the blade; yet, though a quantity of watery blood, mingled with a blackish froth, came from the wound, the octopus apparently lost none of its vitality. Its rage, if I may so term it, seemed to increase, for, quitting its hold on the rocks, it fastened upon me with all its tentacles. I felt its snake-like embrace encircle my legs, while two of its members seized my left arm. Though I struck madly at its head to ward off the terrible, beak-like mouth, my efforts seemed unavailing. The pain of the hundreds of suckers was intense, and I felt my legs giving way under the loathsome contraction of the creature's tentacles.