stem were equally peculiar--all the different combinations of the
five primary colours of Tormance seemed to be represented, and the
result, for Maskull was a sort of eye chaos. So rank was the
vegetation that he could not fight his way through it; he was obliged
to take to the riverbed. The contact of the water created an odd
tingling sensation throughout his body, like a mild electric shock.
There were no birds, but a few extraordinary-looking winged
reptiles of small size kept crossing the valley from hill to hill.
Swarms of flying insects clustered around him, threatening mischief,
but in the end it turned out that his blood was disagreeable to them.
for he was not bitten once. Repulsive crawling creatures resembling
centipedes, scorpions, snakes, and so forth were in myriads on the
banks of the stream, but they also made no attempt to use their
weapons on his bare legs and feet, as he passed through them into the
water.... Presently however, he was confronted in midstream by a
hideous monster, of the size of a pony, but resembling in shape--if
it resembled anything--a sea crustacean; and then he came to a halt.
They stared at one another, the beast with wicked eyes, Maskull with
cool and wary ones. While he was staring, a singular thing happened
to him.

His eyes blurred again. But when in a minute or two this blurring
passed away and he saw clearly once more, his vision had changed in
character. He was looking right through the animal's body and could
distinguish all its interior parts. The outer crust, however, and
all the hard tissues were misty and semi-transparent; through them a
luminous network of blood-red veins and arteries stood out in
startling distinctness. The hard parts faded away to nothingness,
and the blood system alone was left. Not even the fleshy ducts
remained. The naked blood alone was visible, flowing this way and