Granville S. Hoss

“ Could it be possible, I wondered, for some slimy horrible monster of the Jurassic age, or some other period when the world was young, to survive and have its lair in those dark depths?—that it came up into the light each day in search of food and was able to mask its movements by discharging that evil-smelling vapor, much the same as the present-day octopus, in the depths of the ocean, surrounds itself with an inky blackness when attacked? ”

“ McSweet was a small man, round and fat, entirely bald, with a cherubic face and mild blue eyes. He was dressed in rough outing clothes, a cap and top-boots. He had suddenly retired from business some years before and bought a small tract of ground with a two-room cabin where he had since lived alone. In explanation he had always answered that he preferred being next to nature; that the simple life met all his needs and suited him far better than the more complicated existence of the town or city. ”

“ I exclaimed. "Can it be that the cloud we saw is some sort of poisonous vapor which rises at intervals from the depths of the earth and overcomes whatever living thing it envelops?"
"It can't be that, no. A gas of that nature would cause death but it certainly would not be able to remove the body of the victim. No, this is an intelligent agency of some sort, devilish and deadly. A dog would not fear gas, would it? Well, I had a dog, and after the disappearance of the cat I noticed what I had failed to observe before; that he would not go within a hundred feet of the cave. ”