So engrossed were they with the skyline, they didn’t see the little girl walking with schoolbooks in her arms on the sidewalk that paralleled the beach. They did hear her shriek of terror though and spun around with weapons at ready, in time to see her running back in the direction from which she had come. Her schoolbooks lay discarded where she had dropped them in her wild flight.
“What in the name of Jeleval was that?” the first asked in a frightened whisper.
“Did you see it, sir?” the navigator turned to the captain.
“Yes, I saw it.” The captain was visibly shaken.
The girl ran headlong into a patroling policeman. It took only a few hysterical words to send him racing back along the walk tugging under his blouse for his revolver.
“Listen! I think I hear it coming back!” the first reported.
“No, it’s another one,” the navigator said. “There it is now, coming towards us!”
The first cried, “Look at the size of the brute!”
The policeman skidded to a stop about ten yards from the trio. His face drained to a chalk-white for an instant; then he snapped his gun up lo firing position. The first shot went wild and kicked sand into the captain’s face.
“Take cover!” the captain yelled.