There was a pause; then he heard the sound of claws and the dragging of a heavy body away from him over the observatory floor.  Then there was silence, broken only by his own sobbing breathing, and a sound like licking.  Everything was black except the parallelogram of the blue skylight with the luminous dust of stars, against which the end of the telescope now appeared in silhouette.  He waited, as it seemed, an interminable time.  Was the thing coming on again?  He felt in his trouser-pocket for some matches, and found one remaining.  He tried to strike this, but the floor was wet, and it spat and went out.  He cursed.  He could not see where the door was situated.  In his struggle he had quite lost his bearings.  The strange beast, disturbed by the splutter of the match, began to move again.  “Time!” called Woodhouse, with a sudden gleam of mirth, but the thing was not coming at him again.  He must have hurt it, he thought, with the broken bottle.  He felt a dull pain in his ankle.  Probably he was bleeding there.  He wondered if it would support him if he tried to stand up.  The night outside was very still.  There was no sound of any one moving.  The sleepy fools had not heard those wings battering upon the dome, nor his shouts.  It was no good wasting strength in shouting.  The monster flapped its wings and startled him into a defensive attitude.  He hit his elbow against the seat, and it fell over with a crash.  He cursed this, and then he cursed the darkness.

Suddenly the oblong patch of starlight seemed to sway to and fro.  Was he going to faint?  It would never do to faint.  He clenched his fists and set his teeth to hold himself together.  Where had the door got to?  It occurred to him he could get his bearings by the stars visible through the skylight.  The patch of stars he saw was in Sagittarius and south-eastward; the door was north—­or was it north by west?  He tried to think.  If he could get the door open he might retreat.  It might be the thing was wounded.  The suspense was beastly.  “Look here!” he said, “if you don’t come on, I shall come at you.”

Then the thing began clambering up the side of the observatory, and he saw its black outline gradually blot out the skylight.  Was it in retreat?  He forgot about the door, and watched as the dome shifted and creaked.  Somehow he did not feel very frightened or excited now.  He felt a curious sinking sensation inside him.  The sharply-defined patch of light, with the black form moving across it, seemed to be growing smaller and smaller.  That was curious.  He began to feel very thirsty, and yet he did not feel inclined to get anything to drink.  He seemed to be sliding down a long funnel.

He felt a burning sensation in his throat, and then he perceived it was broad daylight, and that one of the Dyak servants was looking at him with a curious expression.  Then there was the top of Thaddy’s face upside down.  Funny fellow, Thaddy, to go about like that!  Then he grasped the situation better, and perceived that his head was on Thaddy’s knee, and Thaddy was giving him brandy.  And then he saw the eyepiece of the telescope with a lot of red smears on it.  He began to remember.