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."Here comes Tom!" suddenly exclaimed Mr.Damon, and the young inventor,followed by the giant Koku, came into view.They had emerged from the divingchamber, walked around the submarine as it rested on the ocean floor, and werenow advancing to the rescue.Tom carried his electric rifle, and Koku an axe.So desperately was Norton engaged in trying to kill the sea beast that hadattacked Ned, that for the moment he was unaware of the approach of Tom andKoku.Then, as a swirl of the water apprised him of this, he turned and,seeing them, hastened toward them."What is it?" Tom asked through the telephone, this information being given tothe watchers in the submarine later, as all they could gather then was by whatthey saw."What sort of monster is it?""A giant starfish!" answered Norton, speaking into his mouthpiece and thewater serving as a transmitting medium instead of wires."I never knew theygrew so big! This one has its five arms all around Mr.Newton!""A starfish!" murmured Tom.This accounted for it, and, as he looked at themonster from closer quarters, he saw that Norton had spoken the truth.Small starfish, or even large ones, two feet or more in diameter, may be seenat the seashore almost any time.Nearly always the specimens cast up on the beach are in extended form, eitherlimp, or dead and dried.In almost every instance they are spread out just astheir name indicates, in the conventional form of a star.But a starfish alive, and at its business of eating oysters or other shellanimals in the sea, is not at all this shape.Instead, it assumes the form ofa sack, spreading its five radiating arms around the object of its meal.Itthen proceeds to suck the oyster out of its shell, and so powerful a suctionorgan has the starfish that he can pull an oyster through its shell, byforcing the bivalve to open.And it was a gigantic starfish, a hundred times as large as any Tom had everseen, that had Ned in its grip.Page 45 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlThe creature had doubtless taken the diver for a new kind of oyster, and wastrying to open it.An octopus has suckers on the inner sides of its eightarms.A starfish has little feelers, or "fingers," arranged parallel rows onTom Swift And His Undersea SearchCHAPTER XV.TOM TO THE RESCUE50the inner side of its armsthousands of little feelers, and these exert a sortof sucking action.The gigantic starfish had attacked Ned from above, settling down on him sothat the head of the diver was at the middle of the creature's body, the fivearms, dropping over Ned in a sort of living canopy.And the arms held tightly."Come on, Koku, and you, too, Norton!" called Tom through his headpiecetelephone."We'll all attack it at once.I'll fire, and then you begin to hackit.The electric charge ought to stun it, if it doesn't kill the beast!"Tom's new electric gun, unlike one kind he had first invented, did not fire anelectrically charged bullet.Instead it sent a powerful charge of electricity, like a flash of lightning,in a straight line toward the object aimed at.And the current was powerfulenough to kill an elephant.Bracing his feet on the white sand, which gleamed and sparkled in the glare ofthe searchlight, Tom aimed at the gigantic starfish which had enveloped Ned.Standing on either side of him, ready to rush in and attack with axe andlance, were Koku and Norton.For an instant Tom hesitated.He was wondering whether the powerful electriccharge might not penetrate the body of the starfish and kill his chum."But the rubber suit ought to insulate and protect him," mused the younginventor."Here goes!"Taking quick aim, Tom pulled the switch, and the deadly charge shot out of therifle toward the sea monster.CHAPTER XVI.GASPING FOR AIRFor an instant after the electrical charge had been fired nothing seem tohappen.The giant starfish still enveloped Ned Newton in its grip, while Tomand his two companions stood tensely waiting and those in the submarine lookedanxiously out through the thick glass windows.Then, as the powerful current made itself felt, those watching saw one of thearms slowly loosen its grip.Another floated upward, as a strand of rope idly drifts in the current.Tomsaw this, and called through his telephone:"He's feeling it! Go to him, boys! Koku, you with the axe!"They needed no second urging.Springing toward the monster, Koku with upraised axe and Norton with thelance, they attacked the starfish.Hacking and stabbing, they completed the work begun by Tom's electric gun.With one powerful stroke, even hampered as he was by the heavy medium in whichhe operated, Koku lopped off one of the legs.Norton thrust his lance deepinto the body of the monster, but this was hardly needed, for the starfish wasnow dead, and gradually the remaining arms relaxed their hold.Pushing with their weapons, the giant and the sailor now freed Ned from thebulk of the creature, which floated away
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