(continued)

'Well, one very hot morning—my fourth, I think—as I was seeking shelter from the heat and glare in a colossal ruin near the great house where I slept and fed, there happened this strange thing:  Clambering among these heaps of masonry, I found a narrow gallery, whose end and side windows were blocked by fallen masses of stone.  By contrast with the brilliancy outside, it seemed at first impenetrably dark to me.  I entered it groping, for the change from light to blackness made spots of colour swim before me.  Suddenly I halted spellbound.  A pair of eyes, luminous by reflection against the daylight without, was watching me out of the darkness.

'The old instinctive dread of wild beasts came upon me.  I clenched my hands and steadfastly looked into the glaring eyeballs.  I was afraid to turn.  Then the thought of the absolute security in which humanity appeared to be living came to my mind.  And then I remembered that strange terror of the dark.  Overcoming my fear to some extent, I advanced a step and spoke.  I will admit that my voice was harsh and ill-controlled.  I put out my hand and touched something soft.  At once the eyes darted sideways, and something white ran past me.  I turned with my heart in my mouth, and saw a queer little ape-like figure, its head held down in a peculiar manner, running across the sunlit space behind me.  It blundered against a block of granite, staggered aside, and in a moment was hidden in a black shadow beneath another pile of ruined masonry.

'My impression of it is, of course, imperfect;  but I know it was a dull white, and had strange large greyish-red eyes;  also that there was flaxen hair on its head and down its back.  But, as I say, it went too fast for me to see distinctly.  I cannot even say whether it ran on all-fours, or only with its forearms held very low.  After an instant's pause I followed it into the second heap of ruins.  I could not find it at first;  but, after a time in the profound obscurity, I came upon one of those round well-like openings of which I have told you, half closed by a fallen pillar.  A sudden thought came to me.  Could this Thing have vanished down the shaft?  I lit a match, and, looking down, I saw a small, white, moving creature, with large bright eyes which regarded me steadfastly as it retreated.  It made me shudder.  It was so like a human spider!  It was clambering down the wall, and now I saw for the first time a number of metal foot and hand rests forming a kind of ladder down the shaft.  Then the light burned my fingers and fell out of my hand, going out as it dropped, and when I had lit another the little monster had disappeared.

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