11)8 THE OCTOPUS. 



octopus, the hunter passes the spear carefully 

 through the water until within an inch or so of 



o 



the centre disc, and then sends it in as deep as he 

 can plunge it. Writhing with pain and passion, 

 the octopus coils its terrible arms round the haft ; 

 redskin, making the side of the canoe a fulcrum 

 for his spear, keeps the struggling monster 

 well off, and raises it to the surface of the water. 

 He is dangerous now; if he could get a hold- 

 fast on either savage or canoe, nothing short 

 of chopping off the arms piecemeal would be of 

 any avail. 



But the wily redskin knows all this, and has 

 taken care to have ready another spear un- 

 barbed, long, straight, smooth, and very sharp, 

 and with this he stabs the octopus where the 

 arms join the central disc. I suppose the spear 

 must break down the nervous ganglions supply- 

 ing motive power, as the stabbed arms lose at 

 once strength and tenacity; the suckers, that 

 a moment before held on with a force ten men 

 could not have overcome, relax, and the entire 

 ray hangs like a dead snake, a limp, lifeless 

 mass. And thus the Indian stabs and stubs, 

 until the octopus, deprived of all power to do 

 harm, is dragged into the canoe, a great, inert, 

 quivering lump of brown-looking jelly. 



