in spite of myself, forthere was something about the appearance of that poor drowned man thatturned me cold.
The Swede glanced up sharply at me, an undecipherable expression on hisface, and began clambering down the bank. I followed him more leisurely.The current, I noticed, had torn away much of the clothing from the body,so that the neck and part of the chest lay bare.
Halfway down the bank my companion suddenly stopped and held up his hand inwarning; but either my foot slipped, or I had gained too much momentum tobring myself quickly to a halt, for I bumped into him and sent him forwardwith a sort of leap to save himself. We tumbled together on to the hardsand so that our feet splashed into the water. And, before anything couldbe done, we had collided a little heavily against the corpse.
The Swede uttered a sharp cry. And I sprang back as if I had been shot.
At the moment we touched the body there rose from its surface the loudsound of humming--the sound of several hummings--which passed with a vastcommotion as of winged things in the air about us and disappeared upwardsinto the sky, growing fainter and fainter till they finally ceased in thedistance. It was exactly as though we had disturbed some living yetinvisible creatures at work.
My companion clutched me, and I think I clutched him, but before either ofus had time properly to recover from the unexpected shock, we saw that amovement of the current was turning the corpse round so that it becamereleased from the grip of the willow roots. A moment later it had turnedcompletely over, the dead face uppermost, staring at the sky. It lay on theedge of the main stream. In another moment it would be swept away.
The Swede started to save it, shouting again something I did not catchabout a "proper burial"--and then abruptly dropped upon his knees on thesand and covered his eyes with his hands. I was beside him in an instant.
I saw what he had seen.
For just as the body swung round to the current the face and the exposedchest turned full towards us, and showed plainly how the skin and fleshwere indented with small hollows, beautifully formed, and exactly similarin shape and kind to the sand-funnels that we had found all over theisland.
"Their mark!" I heard my companion mutter under his breath. "Their awfulmark!"
And when I turned my eyes again from his ghastly face to the river, thecurrent had done its work, and the body had been swept away into mid-streamand was already beyond our reach and almost out of sight, turning over andover on the waves like an otter.
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