The fellow
made a step or two forward, then swayed where he stood, his whole
body rigid and strained. An expression of the utmost terror was upon
his face; he could not utter a sound, although his companions
shrieked in horror. Another second and the man fell flat, twitching
convulsively; and in a moment or two it was all over. He was dead!
And then the truth burst upon the watcher. In fact, it seemed to
come to all four at the same time, probably by reason of their
mental connections. Neither of them could claim that he or she had
previously guessed a tenth of its whole, ghastly nature.
The "cane" which Smith had seen had not been cane at all; it had
been grass. The "beetle" in the stream had not been the giant thing
he had visualized it; neither had that fish been the size he had
thought.
Van Emmon's "gold mine" had not been a pit in any sense of the word;
it had been the inside of the blossom of a very simple, poppy-like
flower. The "nuggets" had been not mineral, but pollen.
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