Page:Henry rideout--The siamese cat.djvu/18

 sponges, he was about to pass on, when by chance he saw that one of the sponges was breathing, with an oozy, half-organic motion, sucking in bubbles through some shapeless orifice. He watched, and suddenly the breathing mass shot out, opened like a ragged umbrella of pink flesh, sailed along the glass with tentacles writhing, and stared with an evil black eye set in a pulpy face.

The women squealed, and the nearest of them turned instinctively to Owen.

"Horrible!" she cried. "Ugh!" They both made the same face of disgust, and then in a comic impulse of relief, smiled at each other. Even in the green light from the tank, she was a pretty girl. Her eyes shone blue and friendly, her face bright with the candour of youth. In a flash, however, she had bethought herself and turned away.

"It's a devil-fish, Aunty," she said with