Apparently it
beat more than twice as fast as Smith's.
But it relieved him to know that his agent was at least a genuine
living being. For a moment he had fancied something utterly
repellent to him. Suppose this Sanusian were not any form of natural
creature at all, but some sort of supermachine, capable of
functioning like an organism? The thought made the engineer shudder
as no morgue could.
Presently the queer craft approached the water closely enough, and
at such an angle, that Smith looked eagerly for a reflection.
However, the water was exceedingly rough, and only a confused
brownish blur could be made out. Once he caught a queer sound above
the noise of the water; a shrill hiss, with a harsh whine at the
end. "Just like some kind of suction apparatus," as he later
described it.
And then, with that peculiar sound fresh in his ears, came the
crowning shock of the whole experience. Floating toward the boulder,
but some distance away, was what looked like a black seed.
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