There were monstrous shapes, living but inert, barely pulsing with
dormant life, as much larger than himself as the dog-headed kind
were smaller—huge, unwieldy, disk-shaped masses of tissue, light
gray at the margins, dark red in the middle. They were in the
majority, and blocked the view. Darting and wriggling between and
about them were horrible forms, some larger than himself, others
smaller. There were serpents, who swam with a serpent’s motion. Some
were serpents in form, but were curled rigidly into living
cork-screws, and by sculling with their tails screwed their way
through the water with surprising rapidity. Others were barrel-or
globe-shaped, with swarming tentacles. With these they pulled
themselves along, in and out through the crowd, or, bringing their
squirming appendages rearward,—each an individual snake,—used them
as propellers, and swam. There were creatures in the form of long
cylinders, some with tentacles by which they rolled along like a log
in a tide-way; others, without appendages, were as inert and
helpless as the huge red-and-gray disks. He saw four ball-shaped
creatures float by, clinging together; then a group of eight, then
one of twelve. All these, to the extent of their volition, seemed to
be in a state of extreme agitation and excitement.
The cause was apparent. The tunnel from which he had come was still
discharging the dog-faced animals by the thousand, and he knew now
the business they were on. It was war—war to the death. They flung
themselves with furious energy into the parade, fighting and biting
all they could reach. A hundred at a time would pounce on one of the
large red-and-gray creatures, almost hiding it from view; then, and
before they had passed out of sight, they would fall off and
disperse, and the once living victim would come with them, in parts.
The smaller, active swimmers fled, but if one was caught, he
suffered; a quick dart, a tangle of tentacles, an embrace of the
wicked flippers, a bite—and a dead body floated on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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