Now there happened to be convenient a great spike of rock, the same,
indeed, to which the bo'sun had bidden Job tie the boat, and to this we
ran the painter, taking a couple of turns about it and two half-hitches,
and now, unless the rope carried away, we had no reason to fear the loss
of the boat; though there seemed to us to be a danger of the creature's
crushing it. Because of this, and because of a feeling of natural anger
against the thing, the bo'sun took up from the sand one of the spears
which had been cast down when we hauled the boat ashore. With this, he
went down so far as seemed safe, and prodded the creature in one of its
tentacles--the weapon entering easily, at which I was surprised, for I
had understood that these monsters were near to invulnerable in all parts
save their eyes. At receiving this stab, the great fish appeared to feel
no hurt for it showed no signs of pain, and, at that, the bo'sun was
further emboldened to go nearer, so that he might deliver a more deadly
wound; yet scarce had he taken two steps before the hideous thing was
upon him, and, but for an agility wonderful in so great a man, he had
been destroyed. Yet, spite of so narrow an escape from death, he was not
the less determined to wound or destroy the creature, and, to this end,
he dispatched some of us to the grove of reeds to get half a dozen of the
strongest, and when we returned with these, he bade two of the men lash
their spears securely to them, and by this means they had now spears of a
length of between thirty and forty feet. With these, it was possible to
attack the devilfish without coming within reach of its tentacles. And
now being ready, he took one of the spears, telling the biggest of the
men to take the other. Then he directed him to aim for the right eye of
the huge fish whilst he would attack the left.

Now since the creature had so nearly captured the bo'sun, it had ceased
to tug at the boat, and lay silent, with its tentacles spread all about