osed that we saw these
things clearly.

Now it is scarcely possible to convey the extraordinary disgust which the
sight of these human slugs bred in me; nor, could I, do I think I would;
for were I successful, then would others be like to retch even as I did,
the spasm coming on without premonition, and born of very horror. And
then, suddenly, even as I stared, sick with loathing and apprehension,
there came into view, not a fathom below my feet, a face like to the face
which had peered up into my own on that night, as we drifted beside the
weed-continent. At that, I could have screamed, had I been in less
terror; for the great eyes, so big as crown pieces, the bill like to an
inverted parrot's, and the slug-like undulating of its white and slimy
body, bred in me the dumbness of one mortally stricken. And, even as I
stayed there, my helpless body bent and rigid, the bo'sun spat a mighty
curse into my ear, and, leaning forward, smote at the thing with his
cutlass; for in the instant that I had seen it, it had advanced upward by
so much as a yard. Now, at this action of the bo'sun's, I came suddenly
into possession of myself, and thrust downward with so much vigor that I
was like to have followed the brute's carcass; for I overbalanced, and
danced giddily for a moment upon the edge of eternity; and then the
bo'sun had me by the waistband, and I was back in safety; but in that
instant through which I had struggled for my balance, I had discovered
that the face of the cliff was near hid with the number of the things
which were making up to us, and I turned to the bo'sun, crying out to him
that there were thousands of them swarming up to us. Yet, he was gone
already from me, running towards the fire, and shouting to the men in the
tent to haste to our help for their very lives, and then he came racing
back with a great armful of the weed, and after him came the big seaman,
carrying a burning tuft from the camp fire, and so in a few moments we
had a blaze, and the men were bringing more weed; for we had a very good
stock upon the hill-top; for which the Almighty be thanked.

Now, scarce had we lit one fire, when the bo'sun cried out to the big
seaman to make another, further along the edge of the cliff, and, in the
same instant, I shouted, and ran over to that part of the hill which lay
towards the open sea; for I had seen a number of moving things about the
edge of the seaward cliff. Now here there was a deal of shadow; for