Their
means of locomotion consisted of huge fins, or rather half-fins,
half-wings, of which they had three laterally arranged behind each head,
and four much longer and narrower, above and below, which seemed to be
used mainly for steering purposes.
They moved with equal ease in either direction, and they appeared to
rise or fall by inflating or deflating the middle portions of their
bodies, somewhat as fish do with their swimming bladders.
The light in the lower regions of this strange ocean was dimmer than
earthly twilight, although the _Astronef_ was steadily making her way
beneath the arch of the rings towards the sunlit hemisphere.
"I wonder what the effect of the searchlight would be on these fellows!"
said Redgrave. "Those huge eyes of theirs are evidently only suited to
dim light. Let's try and dazzle some of them."
"I hope it won't be a case of the moths and the candle!" said Zaidie.
"They don't seem to have taken much interest in us so far. Perhaps they
haven't been able to see properly, but suppose they were attracted by
the light and began crowding round us and fastening on to us, as the
horrible things do with each other. What should we do then? They might
drag us down and perhaps keep us there; but there's one thing, they'd
never eat us, because we could keep closed up and die respectably
together.
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