and she caught his fascinated stare.
Following the direction of his gaze, the girl saw that a whisp of smoky
mist was curling up from under the edge of the canvas cover.

"It is there," whispered Betty.

* * * * *

Marable had a knife which he had picked up from a bench, and with this
he began quietly to cut the canvas case of the block, keeping several
feet to each side of the spot where the fog showed from beneath the
shroud.

Marable cut swiftly and efficiently, though the cloth was heavy and he
was forced to climb up several feet on the block to make his work
effective. The girl watched, fascinated with horror and curiosity.

To their ears came a curious, sucking sound, and once a vague tentacle
form showed from the bottom of the canvas.

At last Marable seized the edge of the cut he had made and, with a
violent heave, sent the canvas flap flying over the big block.

Betty Young screamed. At last she had a sight of the terrible creature
which her imagination had painted in loathing and horror. A flash of
brilliant scarlet, dabbed with black patches, was her impression of the
beast. A head flat and reptilian, long, tubular, with movable nostrils
and antennae at the end, framed two eyes which were familiar enough to
her, for they were the orbs which had stared from the inside of the
amber block. She had dreamed of those eyes.

But the reptile moved like a flash of red light, though she knew its
bulk was great; it sprayed forth black mist from the appendages at the
end of its nose, and the crumpling of canvas reached her ears as the
beast endeavored to conceal itself on the opposite side of the block.

* * * * *

Marable had run to the other side of the mass. The air, rushing in from
the windows, had cleared the mist, in spite of the new clouds the
creature had emitted, and Betty could see for some feet in either
direction now.

She walked, with stiff, frozen muscles, around to join Marable. As she
came near to him, she saw him jerking off the entire canvas cover of the
block to expose the horrible reptile to the light of day.

And now the two stood staring at the awful sight. The creature had
flattened itself into the crevices and irregular surfaces of the block,
but it was too large to hide in anything but a huge space. They saw
before them its great bulk, bright red skin blotched with black, which
rose and fell with the breathing of the rep