Again and again he stuck the blade into the gristle like substance. Could he win? Could he save his own life, to say nothing of that of the two boys? The creature was lashing about now so that the water was a mass of black foam. The ink-color was beginning to fade away. Andy could dimly observe the horrible front of the octupus, and see the wound his lance had made. Then all seemed to grow dark again. He dimly remembered trying to thrust the knife into one of the saucer-shaped eyes, and then of a sudden his senses left him. When Andy came to his senses he found himself lying on the ocean bed just outside the cave. About him stood the professor, Washington, Tom and Bill. His head buzzed and he felt weak, but he knew he was uninjured, and that his diving suit had not been punctured in the fight with the octupus, for he could feel the fresh air entering from the tank at the back of his helmet. Were the boys killed, Andy wondered. Had his fight to save them been in vain? He managed to stand up, and then, to his relief he saw Mark and Jack standing behind Tom and Bill. The boys seemed weak but otherwise uninjured. The professor motioned to know if Andy could walk and the old hunter soon demonstrated that he could by stepping forward. Then the party proceeded slowly to the ship. Little time was lost by each one in divesting himself of his diving suit as soon as they had left the water chamber. The first thing Andy asked when his helmet was off, was: "Did I kill the beast?" "Indeed you did," replied the professor. "And just in time, too. You were about done for when we came back with the guns, but they were not needed. My! But you must have had a terrible fight!" "I did, while it lasted," said the hunter. "But were the boys hurt?" "They can speak for themselves," replied Mr. Henderson. "I guess not, though." "Having the wind almost squeezed out of us was the worst that happened," said Mark. "The octupus must have recently dined when it grabbed us, for it didn't offer to eat us. And it didn't grip us as tightly as it might have or I reckon we wouldn't have come out alive. I thought sure we were going to be killed, however." "So did I," put in Jack. "I don't want any more such fights this trip," said Andy with a weak smile. CHAPTER XXVIII OUT OF THE ICE Worn out with their encounter with the octupus, Andy and the boys were glad to take to their bunks. The others, too, who were weary from traveling under water, felt the need of rest, and so it was decided to let the ship remain stationary down on the bottom of the ocean for several hours before going on further. "When we get rested up we'll have a good meal, and then try to gain the surface of the ocean," said the professor.