"Commence firing," Kingsford shouted his order. He turned to me. "There, Mr. Rogers. There is your Leviathan." I could barely hear him for the wind. Then I realized that it was only because we had the communications on that I could hear him at all, though he was but two feet from me. "Stop them, Captain," I shouted. "If we don't fire, it will pass us." "No, Mr. Rogers. Hear this, men. The shot that fells the beast gets another ten percent of my share. Now, Mr. Rogers. Now I get my eye back, and the men of the Essex, and the right to bring the fruit of this Hell back to Earth. Now is the moment all mankind has waited for. Now. Will you deny me that? Will you, Mr. Rogers?" * * * * * I couldn't answer. It was too late. One of the emplacements had brought its weapon to bear and fired at what seemed point blank range. The sound was deafening above the roar of the wind. I felt the wind tear at my clothes and saw the blinding flash and then heard the sound of the detonation. Kingsford stood firm through all this. "Again," he shouted. "Again." Then he fell forward, the wind tearing at him. I fell to my knees then, the wind dragging at me, and felt a mound at my side. It was the base of a projection of stone. I undid my waist clasp and secured myself to the projection and reached out to Kingsford. I grasped his wrist and hung on as I saw the flame and smoke whirled away and sucked into the funnel of the monster as it turned toward the center of the camp. Kingsford was like a limp rag, dragging in the wind against my hand. The animal had veered directly toward the camp site. It was over the ship. It dwarfed the Algonquin, easily ten times its size. I saw solid objects floating toward its funnel mouth. I was deafened by the roar of the wind now, but I saw that the objects were men and equipment. I thought I heard screams, but it must have been the roaring of the wind. Then I saw both its eyes, huge yet blind, and everything about me rushing toward the mouth of the funnel. Then the ship began to come apart and I could see nothing in the devastating clouds of dust and smoke that surrounded me, a solid mass fleeing at unbelievable speed toward a center I could no longer determine. Once, during this horror, I felt a weight lifted from the strain on my body. I did not realize at once that it was Kingsford being torn away from my grasp. After that, I gave myself up to what might be. I could no longer breathe, no longer see, no longer feel, but by some monstrous miracle, the stone projection to which I was clasped held securely and only in semi-consciousness was I aware of the gradual diminution of all sound and wind, and a slow returning to silence of this vast hell of a planet. Some time later, I opened my eyes to the magnificent glare of early morning sunlight in full splendor.