"But what happened last night," said Davis, "is almost as mysterious to us as thunder to a savage. A savage would blame it on devils or whatnot."
"Or on ellos," said Terry.
"He'd imagine a personality behind it, yes," said Davis. "He does things because he wants to, so he thinks all natural phenomena occur because somebody wants them to. He has no idea of natural law, so he tries to imagine what kind of person—what kind of god or devil—does the things he notices. It's a natural way to think."
"Very likely," admitted Terry. "But the point?"
"Is that we mustn't fall into a savage's way of thinking about last night's affair."
Terry said, "I couldn't agree with you more. But just what are you driving at?"
"There's a dredge being made for me in Barca. I'm afraid you may suspect that I'm trying to—stir up something with it. To poke something we know is somewhere but can't identify. I didn't want you to try the fish-paddle in deep water, that's true. But...."
"You're explaining," said Terry, "that you didn't want me to whack a fish-driving paddle overside in deep water."
Davis hesitated, and then nodded.
"The phenomena you're interested in are under water?"