ch, perchance he had fallen over, and lay dead or wounded
near to our hands. But it was not so, and after that, we went down to the
mouth of the great pit, and here we discovered the mud all about it to be
covered with multitudes of tracks, and in addition to these and the
slime, we found many traces of blood; but nowhere any signs of Tompkins.
And so, having searched all the valley, we came out upon the weed which
strewed the shore nearer to the great weed-continent; but discovered
nothing until we had made up towards the foot of the hill, where it came
down sheer into the sea. Here, I climbed on to a ledge--the same from
which the men had caught their fish--, thinking that, if Tompkins had
fallen from above, he might lie in the water at the foot of the cliff,
which was here, maybe, some ten to twenty feet deep; but, for a little
space, I saw nothing. Then, suddenly, I discovered that there was
something white, down in the sea away to my left, and, at that, I climbed
farther out along the ledge.

In this wise I perceived that the thing which had attracted my notice was
the dead body of one of the weed men. I could see it but dimly, catching
odd glimpses of it as the surface of the water smoothed at whiles. It
appeared to me to be lying curled up, and somewhat upon its right side,
and in proof that it was dead, I saw a mighty wound that had come near to
shearing away the head; and so, after a further glance, I came in, and
told what I had seen. At that, being convinced by this time that Tompkins
was indeed done to death, we ceased our search; but first, before we left
the spot, the bo'sun climbed out to get a sight of the dead weed man and
after him the rest of the men, for they were greatly curious to see
clearly what manner of creature it was that had attacked us in the night.
Presently, having seen so much of the brute as the water would allow,
they came in again to the beach, and afterwards were returned to the
opposite side of the island, and so, being there, we crossed over to the
boat, to see whether it had been harmed; but found it to be untouched.
Yet, that the creatures had been all about it, we could perceive by the
marks of slime upon the sand, and also by the strange trail which they
had left in the soft surface. Then one of the men called out that there
had been something at Job's grave, which, as will be remembered, had been
made in the sand some little distance from the place of our first camp.
At that, w