"Poor Matt--Matt he allus was agin it--tried to line up the folks on
his side, an' had long talks with the preachers--no use--they run
the Congregational parson aout o' taown, an' the Methodist feller
quit--never did see Resolved Babcock, the Baptist parson, agin--Wrath
o' Jehovy--I was a mighty little critter, but I heerd what I heerd an'
seen what I seen--Dagon an' Ashtoreth--Belial an' Beëlzebub--Golden
Caff an' the idols o' Canaan an' the Philistines--Babylonish
abominations--_Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin_--"

He stopped again, and from the look in his watery blue eyes I feared he
was close to a stupor after all. But when I gently shook his shoulder
he turned on me with astonishing alertness and snapped out some more
obscure phrases. "Dun't believe me, hey? Heh, heh, heh--then just tell me, young feller,
why Cap'n Obed an' twenty odd other folks used to row aout to Devil
Reef in the dead o' night an' chant things so laoud ye cud hear 'em
all over taown when the wind was right? Tell me that, hey? An' tell
me why Obed was allus droppin' heavy things daown into the deep water
t'other side o' the reef whar the bottom shoots daown like a cliff
lower'n ye kin saound? Tell me what he done with that funny-shaped lead
thingumajig as Walakea give him? Hey, boy?" The watery blue eyes were almost savage and maniacal now, and the dirty
white beard bristled electrically. Old Zadok probably saw me shrink
back, for he began to cackle evilly. "Heh, heh, heh, heh! Beginnin' to see, hey? Haow abaout the night I
took my pa's ship's glass up to a cupalo an' seed the reef a-bristlin'
thick with shapes that dove off quick soon's the moon riz? Obed an' the
folks was in a dory, but them shapes dove off the far side into the
deep water an' never come up.... Haow'd ye like to be a little shaver
alone up in a cupalo a-watchin' shapes _as wa'n't human shapes_?... Hey?... Heh, heh, heh, heh...."

       *       *       *       *       *

The old man was getting hysterical, and I began to shiver with a
nameless alarm. He laid a gnarled claw on my shoulder, and it seemed to
me that its shaking was not altogether that of mirth. "S'pose one night ye seed somethin' heavy heaved offen Obed's dory
beyond the reef, an' then larned nex' day a young feller was missin'
from home? Hey? Did anybody ever see hide or hair o' Hiram Gilman agin? Did they? An' Nick Pierce, an' Luelly Waite, an' Adoniram Saouthwick,
an' Henry Garrison? Hey? Heh, heh....

"Wal, Sir, that was the time Obed begun to git on his feet agin. Folks
see his three darters a-wearin' gold-like things as nobody'd never see
on 'em afore, an' smoke started comin' aout o' the refin'ry chimbly. Other folks was prosp'rin', too--fish began to swarm into the harbor
fit to kill, an' heaven knows what sized cargoes we begun to ship aout
to Newb'ryport, Arkham, an' Boston. 'Twas then Obed got the ol' branch
railrud put through. "Remember, I ain't sayin' Obed was set on hevin' things jest like
they was on that Kanaky isle. I dun't think he aimed at fust to do
no mixin', nor raise no young-uns to take to the water an' turn into
fishes with etarnal life. He wanted them gold things, an' was willin'
to pay heavy, an' I guess the _others_ was satisfied fer a while....

"Come in 'forty-six the taown done some lookin' an' thinkin' fer
itself. Too many folks missin'--too much wild preachin' at meetin' of a
Sunday--too much talk abaout that reef. I guess I done a bit by tellin'
Selectman Mowry what I see from the cupalo. They was a party one night
as follered Obed's craowd aout to the reef, an' I heerd shots betwixt
the dories. Nex' day Obed an' thutty-two others was in jail, with
everybody a-wonderin' jest what was afoot an' jest what charge agin
'em cud be got to holt. God, ef anybody'd looked ahead ... a couple
o' weeks later, when nothin' had ben throwed into the sea fer that
long...."

Zadok was showing signs of fright and exhaustion, and I let him keep
silence for a while, though glancing apprehensively at my watch. The
tide had turned and was coming in now, and the sound of the waves
seemed to arouse him. "That awful night.... I seed 'em.... I was up in the cupalo ... hordes
of 'em ... swarms of 'em ... all over the reef an' swimmin' up the
harbor into the Manuxet.... God, what happened in the streets of
Innsmouth that night ... they rattled our door, but pa wouldn't open
... then he clumb aout the kitchen winder with his musket to find
Selectman Mowry an' see what he cud do.... Maounds o' the dead an'
the dyin' ... shots an' screams ... shaoutin' in Ol' Squar an' Taown
Squar an' New Church Green ... jail throwed open ... proclamation ...
treason ... called it the plague when folks come in an' faound haff our
people missin' ... nobody left but them as ud jine in with Obed an'
them things or else keep quiet ... never heerd o' my pa no more...."

The old man was panting, and perspiring profusely. His grip on my
shoulder tightened. "Everything cleaned up in the mornin'--but they was _traces_.... Obed
he kinder takes charge an' says things is goin' to be changed ...
_others'll_ worship with us at meetin'-time, an' sarten haouses hez got
to entertain _guests_ ... _they_ wanted to mix like they done with the
Kanakys, an' he fer one didn't feel baound to stop 'em. Far gone, was
Obed ... jest like a crazy man on the subjeck. He says they brung us
fish an' treasure, an' shud hev what they hankered arter....

"Nothin' was to be diff'runt on the aoutside, only we was to keep shy
o' strangers ef we knowed what was good fer us. We all hed to take the
Oath o' Dagon, an' later on they was secon' an' third Oaths that some
of us took. Them as ud help special, ud git special rewards--gold an'
sech. No use balkin', fer they was millions of 'em daown thar. They'd
ruther not start risin' an' wipin' aout humankind, but ef they was gave
away an' forced to, they cud do a lot toward jest that. "Yield up enough sacrifices an' savage knick-knacks an' harborage in
the taown when they wanted it, an' they'd let well enough alone. All in
the band of the faithful--Order o' Dagon--an' the children shud never
die, but go back to the Mother Hydra an' Father Dagon what we all come
from onct--_Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh
wgahnagl fhtagn_--"

Old Zadok began to moan now, and tears were coursing down his
channelled cheeks into the depths of his beard.