The other three came then and they had no further chance for conversation.
As a matter of fact, they talked surprisingly little on the walk to the
river.

High above them a wonderful full moon sent its silvery light filtering
down through leaves and branches, making of the woods a fairyland.
Somehow, the very beauty of it filled the girls with a strange dread. To
them the patches of moonlight were weird, unreal, the shadowy woods held a
sinister menace.

By the time they had reached the river's edge they were almost ready to
turn and run. But they conquered the impulse and pressed on. Then suddenly
they saw what they had hoped, yet dreaded, to see.

On the opposite bank, staring down into the rapids with a terrible
intentness, stood a man, or something that resembled a man. In one awful,
breath-taking minute they realized that here at last was the "Thing."

As they watched, the hunched-up crouching figure on the opposite bank made
a lumbering movement forward as though about to throw itself into the
water at the foot of the falls.

"Oh!" screamed Betty, the words wrenched from her dry throat. "Don't do
that! You mustn't do that! Go back! For goodness' sake, go back!"

With a hoarse cry that answered her own, the "Thing" flung back from the
water's edge and disappeared into the darkness!