ol of an acre
or two remained, and in its center, disporting himself in glee was--not
the monster he was looking for--but The Grinner! The bloated creature
was rolling about in the water with all the abandonment of a
mud-wallowing hog.

* * * * *

Omega gazed in astonishment, then a shrill laugh escaped him. He had
mistaken The Grinner for another monster of the deep. It was the last
joke of life, and it was on him.

Then he realized that this grotesque child of his hands, having in its
system the combined thirst of the dry ages--man, animal, plant, bird
and reptile--was sucking up the lake, absorbing it through his pores,
then sweating it out only to repeat the process. Water was his element
and food. From the dim, dry past had come nature's cry for water to find
expression in this monster of Omega's making. That which he had created
for a companion had grown into a terrible menace, which was rapidly
exhausting his remaining stronghold of life. But, somehow, Omega did not
care, and as he watched the monstrous thing finally flounder its way to
the shore and lie down panting in the sun, he was glad that it was not
another monster of the deep.

For a moment Omega's eyes rested on the drying form of the dead beast on
the slope above him, then with a shudder he turned to The Grinner.

He went up close and stared into its terrible eyes which blinked back at
him as its mouth spread in a leer. Already the sweat was coursing along
the slimy folds of its skin and dripping off to be swallowed by the
thirsty ground. It was a huge water sucker. It took water in enormous
quantities, fed upon its organisms, then discharged it through its skin.
Assisted by the rays of the sun it was rapidly drying up the lake.

Now, as Omega stood regarding it in awe and wonder, it showed signs of
distress. It began to writhe and utter hoarse cries of pain. Its eyes
rolled horribly, its great, barrel-like body heaved and trembled, and it
waved its long arms and threshed its feet upon the ground. Omega
realized that it was the victim of its own abnormal appetite. With the
relish of a gormandizer it had taken more of its peculiar food than even
its prodigious maw could assimilate. Soon its struggles became fiercer.
It rolled over and over in contortions of agony, the sweat streaming
from its body, while a pitiful moaning came from its horrid mouth. But
at last it became quiet, its moanings trailed off into silence, i