t living thing;
and with this there came the noise of regular movements in the water,
and the foaming and gurgling of waves. It was as though some living,
breathing creature were here, not far away, moving through these
midnight waters; and with this discovery there came a new fear--the
fear of pursuit. I thought that some sea-monster had scented me in
my boat, and had started to attack me. This new fear aroused me to
action. It was a danger quite unlike any other which I had ever known;
yet the fear which it inspired was a feeling that roused me to action,
and prompted me, even though the coming danger might be as sure as
death, to rise against it and resist to the last. So I stood up with
my rifle and listened, with all my soul in my sense of hearing. The
sounds arose more plainly. They had come nearer. They were immediately
in front. I raised my rifle and took aim. Then in quick succession two
reports thundered out with tremendous uproar and interminable echoes,
but the long reverberations were unheeded in the blaze of sudden light
and the vision that was revealed. For there full before me I saw,
though but for an instant, a tremendous sight. It was a vast monster,
moving in the waters against the stream and toward the boat. Its head
was raised high, its eyes were inflamed with a baleful light, its
jaws, opened wide, bristled with sharp teeth, and it had a long neck
joined to a body of enormous bulk, with a tail that lashed all the
water into foam. It was but for an instant that I saw it, and then
with a sudden plunge the monster dived, while at the same moment all
was as dark as before.

Full of terror and excitement, I loaded my rifle again and waited,
listening for a renewal of the noise. I felt sure that the monster,
balked of his prey, would return with redoubled fury, and that I
should have to renew the conflict. I felt that the dangers of the
subterranean passage and of the rushing waters had passed away, and
that a new peril had arisen from the assault of this monster of the
deep. Nor was it this one alone that was to be dreaded. Where one was,
others were sure to be; and if this one should pass me by it would
only leave me to be assailed by monsters of the same kind, and these
would probably increase in number as I advanced farther into this
realm of darkness. And yet, in spite of these grisly thoughts, I
felt less of horror than before, for the fear which I had was now
associated with action; and as I stoo