namely, that some eight
yards from the mouth of the tunnel a table-shaped fragment of stone rose
from its floor to within six feet of the roof, having on the hither side
a sloping plane that connected its summit with the stream-bed beneath.
Doubtless this fragment or boulder, being of some harder material than
the surrounding rock, had resisted the wear of the rushing river; the
top of it, as was shown by the high-water marks on the sides of the
cave, being above the level of the torrent, which, although it was now
represented only by a rivulet, evidently at certain seasons of the year
poured down with great force and volume.

"Here is a bed on which a crocodile might sleep," reflected Otter,
creeping a little further forward and staring at the mass of rock, and
more especially at a triangular-shaped object that was poised on the top
of the sloping plane, and on something which lay beneath it.

"Now, if that thing be another stone," thought Otter again, "how comes
it that it does not slip into the water as it should do, and what is
that upon which it rests?" and he took a step to one side to prevent his
body from intercepting any portion of the ray of light that momentarily
shone clearer and pierced the darkness of the cave to a greater
distance.

Then he looked again and almost fell in his horror, for now he could see
all. The thing that he had taken for a stone set upon the rock-table
was the head of the Dweller in the Waters, for there in it, as the light
struck on them, two dreadful eyes gleamed with a dull and changing fire.
Moreover, he discovered what was the object which lay under the throat
of the reptile. It was the body of that priest whom Otter had taken
with him in his leap from the statue, for he could see the dead face
projecting on one side.

"Perhaps if I wait awhile he will begin to eat him," reflected the
dwarf, remembering the habits of crocodiles, "and then I can attack him
when he rests and sleeps afterwards"; and, acting on this idea, he stood
still, watching the green fire as it throbbed and quivered, waxed and
waned in the monster's eyes.

How long he remained thus Otter never knew; but after a time he became
conscious that these eyes had taken hold of him and were drawing him
towards them, though whether the reptile saw him or not he could not
tell. For a space he struggled against this unholy fascination; then,
overcome by dread, he strove to fly, back to the pool or anywhere out
of rea