out into a galaxy of new eyes. He
put his hand up and counted six, in addition to his old ones.

The danger was past and Maskull laughed, congratulating himself on
having got off so easily. Then he wondered what the new organs were
for--whether they were a good or a bad thing. He had not taken a dozen
steps up the ravine before he found out. Just as he was in the act of
jumping down from the top of a boulder, his vision altered and he came
to an automatic standstill. He was perceiving two worlds simultaneously.
With his own eyes he saw the gorge as before, with its rocks, brook,
plant-animals, sunshine, and shadows. But with his acquired eyes he saw
differently. All the details of the valley were visible, but the light
seemed turned down, and everything appeared faint, hard, and uncoloured.
The sun was obscured by masses of cloud which filled the whole sky.
This vapour was in violent and almost living motion. It was thick in
extension, but thin in texture; some parts, however, were far denser
than others, as the particles were crushed together or swept apart by
the motion. The green sparks from the brook, when closely watched, could
be distinguished individually, each one wavering up toward the clouds,
but the moment they got within them a fearful struggle seemed to begin.
The spark endeavoured to escape through to the upper air, while the
clouds concentrated around it whichever way it darted, trying to create
so dense a prison that further movement would be impossible. As far as
Maskull could detect, most of the sparks succeeded eventually in finding
their way out after frantic efforts; but one that he was looking at was
caught, and what happened was this. A complete ring of cloud surrounded
it, and, in spite of its furious leaps and flashes in all directions--as
if it were a live, savage creature caught in a net--nowhere could it
find an opening, but it dragged the enveloping cloud stuff with it,
wherever it went. The vapours continued to thicken around it, until
they resembled the black, heavy, compressed sky masses seen before a
bad thunderstorm. Then the green spark, which was still visible in the
interior, ceased its efforts, and remained for a time quite quiescent.
The cloud shape went on consolidating itself, and became nearly
spherical; as it grew heavier and stiller, it started slowly to descend
toward the valley floor. When it was directly opposite Maskull, with its
lower end only a few feet off the ground, i