...he saw the stone, with moonlight shining on it. He seemed to be standing nearby, staring as if fascinated. The stone began to quiver, and strange noises came from it, low moans and a kind of hissing. Faint red light shone from cracks in its surface. And something flowed from beneath it, something dark and rippling.
At first Lewis thought that somehow water was running from under the stone, as if a spring were beneath it. But the patch of darkness was not water. It moved beneath the moonlight, catching glimmers on its oily black surface. It crept over the rocks in the clearing, and Lewis stepped slowly away afrom it, as if it were a living creature and he did not want to attract its attention.
Then his feet rustled in something. Somehow the edge of the clearing was deep in dry leaves, though autmn was months away. The moving patch of darkness stopped. Then, incredibly quickly, it flowed toward Lewis. He moved fast than he thought he could. He bolted forward. He leaped up onto the mossy stone covering the grave.
The dark, shapeless form flowed into the dry leaves. They heaved and rustled. Then -- then, somehow -- they stood up!
Lewis felt his heart hammering. The leaves were clinging together, making a shape that was roughly human. It shambled toward him, its head thrust forward and slowly swinging from side to side. Moonlight fell on it, and Lewis saw that instead of eyes, the weird face of the thing had just two hollow pits.
It was blind.
But then it dropped to all fours. It lowered its face to the ground. And it shuffled closer, hissing.
It could smell him.
Lewis backed away, trying to be quiet. He came to the edge of the stone. He took a step down --
And felt dry hands close over his ankle!
