There, among some young pine trees and furze bushes, I stopped,
panting, and waited further developments.  The common round the sand
pits was dotted with people, standing like myself in a half-fascinated
terror, staring at these creatures, or rather at the heaped gravel at
the edge of the pit in which they lay.  And then, with a renewed
horror, I saw a round, black object bobbing up and down on the edge of
the pit.  It was the head of the shopman who had fallen in, but
showing as a little black object against the hot western sun.  Now he
got his shoulder and knee up, and again he seemed to slip back until
only his head was visible.  Suddenly he vanished, and I could have
fancied a faint shriek had reached me.  I had a momentary impulse to
go back and help him that my fears overruled.