The third devil fish, which had not been wounded,
had disappeared. Finally Koku, with a desperate blow, succeeded
in severing the tail from the beast attacking him, and that
battle was over.
As if realizing that it had lost its power to harm, the devil
fish at once swam off, grievously wounded. Then Koku turned his
attention to Tom's enemy. Ned, too, lent his aid, and they
succeeded in wounding the creature in several places, so that it
sank to the bottom of the sea and lay there gasping.
Slowly the red waters cleared and the three divers, exhausted
by the fight, could view the remaining creature--the one wounded
to death. It was the largest of the three, and truly it was a
monster. But it was past the power to harm, and in a few minutes
an under sea current carried it slowly away. Later it would
float, doubtless, or be devoured by sharks or other ocean pirates
before reaching the surface.
"Thank goodness that's over!" said Ned to Tom. "I don't want to
see any more of them."
"There may be more about," Tom said. "We'd better keep watch.
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