The half hysterical three turned towards the river, where a greater miracle was taking place. Perhaps moved by Chesterton's invocation, the pieces of the shattered seal were recomposing in their original shape and location. It may only have been imagination which caused the men to think they saw a shape thrust back into the concealed entrance; it is at any rate certain that whatever lay below in its aeons-forgotten prison was now once again sealed into that sunken hideaway.
The nightjars were quietening their expectantly vibrating cries, and the turbulence of the waters had almost ceased. Not just yet could the men bring themselves to look at the monstrosity which they had shot, to ascertain that it was dead. Instead, they stared towards nearby Clotton, towards which they had seen a dim shape plunge some time before. The monster from beyond was at last loose on the world.
By the time that Philip Chesterton had reached the bank of the river outside Clotton, some time had elapsed, and during it several events had occurred. Chesterton, hastening to view the effects of his interference, had been delayed by the necessity of buying petrol, and also by his uncertainty where the sorcerer might be; though he knew the man would be somewhere near water, it was some time before the bobbing lights and commotion of the crowd of evacuees who had come from the nearby town attracted him to the bridge. There he found more things than he had expected.
The crowd would in any case have congregated near the bridge, no doubt, since the noise of shots and other things would have drawn them; but actually they had been forced to evacuate from Clotton. Built above the normal flood-plain of the Ton, the town had been partially inundated by the abnormally-provoked flood; the section near the river had become a morass of submerged streets and basements. Those so driven from their homes had made for the bridge — the banks of the river were actually higher land than the low-lying downtown quarter of Clotton, and the hills which lay on the other side of the town were precarious at night if one wanted to hurry for help to Brichester. At the bridge, of course, the already frenzied townsfolk met with a scene which only aggravated their hysteria; and this was not alleviated by the tales of several people. Chesterton heard clearly the wails of one woman as he came up. She was telling the bystanders:
I was just goin' up to bed w'en I 'eard these shots an' yells down be the river. I came downstairs an' peeped out o' the front door down the street, but I didn't see anythin'. Anyway, all this runnin' up an' down 'ad woken me up, so I went into the kitchen an' got a sleepin' tablet. Just as I was goin' back through the front room I 'eard this sort o'—well, I don't know; it sounded like someone runnin', but bare feet, an' sort o' wef-soundin'. Looked out o' the winder, but there wasn't anythin'. An' then somethin' went past the winder — big an' black an' shiny, like a fish. But God knows wot 'eight it was! Its 'ead was level with mine, an' the 'winder's seven foot off the ground!'
Nor was this all Chesterton heard recounted when he arrived. He had not yet seen the horribly incomplete remains of Phipps, nor that other object which lay in shadow some distance away, for the crowd was being skilfully directed away from the two monstrosities by a surprisingly sane three men — the same ones who had been partly responsible for their destruction. Now, however, the three, sensing his instinctive authoritative bearing, converged on him and began to recount their terrible experience, supplementing their account by pointing out the remains of Phipps and his dreadful companion. Even though Chesterton had formed a good idea of the appearance of the river creatures, he could not suppress a gasp of revulsion as the being was revealed. The sketch and the Necronomicon illustration had not reproduced everything; they had not shown the transparency-of the half-gelatinous flesh, revealing the mobile organs beneath the skin. Nor had they shown the globular organ above the brain, at whose use Chesterton could only guess shudderingly. And as the mouth fell open when they stirred the body, he saw that the being possessed no teeth, but six rows of powerful tentacles interlaced across the opening of the throat.
Chesterton turned away, nauseated by this concrete symbol of cosmic alienage, to move back and speak to one or two of the affrighted crowd, who had no idea of what lay nearby. He twisted around again as a choking cry of horror came behind him; and, under the fast-sinking moon, he saw one of the three men struggling with the tentacles of the river monster. It stood semi-erect on its four lower legs, and was dragging the man towards the yearning members about the mouth. The globular device in the head was pulsing and passing through shocking metamorphoses, and even in this position, Chesterton noticed that the river had momentarily washed almost to the edge of the crowd, and the water was being levitated into an orifice in the head above the globe.
The distance between the wide-gaping mouth and the victim was momently lessening, while the companions of the man were standing seemingly paralysed with terror. Chesterton snatched a rifle from the hands of one of them, aimed it, and stood temporarily uncertain. Recollecting that the being had only been put out of action by the other bullet because of his own incantation, Chesterton doubted whether another shot would harm it. Then, as he saw that pulsing sphere in the head, a conjecture formed in his mind; and he aimed the weapon at the organ, hesitating, and pulled the trigger.
There was a moist explosion, and the watchers were spattered with a noisome pulp. They saw the being sink to the ground, its legs jerking in spasmodic agony. And then came an occurrence which Chesterton would not write about, saying only that very soon almost no remains of the monstrosity existed.
And, as if they had reacted in delayed fashion to the destruction of the being, the crowd now shrieked in unity of terror. Chesterton saw before he turned that the intended victim was indeed dead, whether from pure terror or from the embrace of the tentacles — for where these had gripped, the man's flesh was exposed. Then he turned to look where the mob was staring, and as they too stared in that direction, his two companions remembered what they had seen heading for the town in those recent lunatic minutes.
The moon had sunk nearly to the horizon, and its pallid rays lit up the roofs of the Clotton houses behind which it hung. The chimneys stood up like black rooftop monoliths, and so did something else on one of the nearer roofs — something which moved. It stumbled on the insecure surface, and, raising its head to the moon, seemed to be staring defiantly at the watchers. Then it leapt down on the opposite side, and was gone.
The action was a signal to the waiting crowd. They had seen enough horrors for one night, and they fled along the riverside path which, dangerous as it was, seemed more secure than any other means of escape. Chesterton watched as the lights faded along the black river, and then a hand touched his arm.
He turned. The two remaining members of the party which had killed Phipps stood there, and one awkwardly said: 'Look, you said you wanted t' destroy them things from the river, an' there's still one left. It was them did for Frank here, an' we think it's our — duty — to get 'em for 'im. We don't know what they are, but they went an' killed Frank, so we're bloody well goin' to try an' kill them. So we thought that if you needed any help with killin' that last one…'
'Well, I told you something of what I know,' Chesterton said, 'but — well, I hope I won't offend you, but — you must understand certain things pretty thoroughly, to unite your wills with mine, and I don't know whether you'd — What sort of work do you do anyway?'
'We're at Poole's Builder's Yard in Brichester,' one told him.
Chesterton was silent for so long that they wondered what had occurred to him. When he looked at them again, there was a new expression in his eyes. 'I suppose I could teach you a little of the Yr-Nhhngr basics — it would need weeks to get you to visualise dimensional projections, but maybe that won't be necessary if I can just give you a copy of the incantation, the correct pronunciation, and give you the lenses for the reversed-angle view of matter if I can make any in time — yes, those plain glass spectacles would do if I put a filter over to progress the colours halfway… But you don't know what the devil I'm running on about. Come on — I'll drive you to my house.'
When they were driving down the A38, Chesterton broke the silence again: 'I'll be frank — it was really because you work at Poole's that I accepted your aid. Not that I wouldn't be glad of help — it's a strain to use those other parts of the brain with only your own vitality to draw on — but there's so much I have to teach you, and only tonight to do it in; there wouldn't even be tonight, but it's crazy to attack while it's dark. No, I think I can use you more in another way, though perhaps you can help with the chant. So long as I still have the reproduction of that seal in the river… and so long as you can get used to artificial reversal of matter — I always do it without artificial help, because then it doesn't seem so odd.'
And as he drew up the car in the driveway off Bold Street, he called back: 'Pray it stays near water to accustom itself to surface conditions. If it doesn't — they're parthenogenetic, all of them, and pretty soon there'll be a new race to clear off the earth. Humanity will just cease to exist.'
The next day was one of sickly-glowing sunlight and impending winds. Chesterton had copied out the formula in triplicate and given a copy to each of the men, retaining one for himself. Now, in mid-morning, the librarian and
