"
Here he paused impressively, as if to lure the Babe on. But into the
latter's head popped so many questions all together, at the mention of
a creature with so strange a name, that for the moment he could not for
the life of him get any one of them into words. He merely gasped. And
Uncle Andy, delighted with this apparent self-restraint, went on
graciously.
"You're improving a lot," said he. "You're getting quite a knack of
holding your tongue. Well, you're going to know all about it in half a
minute.
"Little Sword caught sight of a queer, watery-pinkish, speckled
creature on the bottom, just crossing a space of clear sand. It was
about twice as long as himself, with a pair of terrible big, ink-black
eyes, and a long bunch of squirming feelers growing out of its head
like leaf-stalks out of the head of a beet. He noticed that two of
these feelers were twice as long as the rest, which did not seem to him
a matter of the least importance. But he noticed at the same time that
the creature looked soft and good to eat. The next instant, like a ray
of light flashed suddenly, he darted at it.
"But swift as he was, the pale creature's inky eyes had noted him in
time. His feelers bunched suddenly tight and straight, and he shot
backwards, at the same moment spouting a jet of black fluid from
beneath his beaked mouth.
Pages:
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101