Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 52 — page 44: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

STAR HAVEN ~. “A naked foot?” “That’s right.” ““Man or woman?” “Neither. I would say that it was that of a child.” **A child ?’’ Williams stared his incredulity. “‘Are you certain ?”” “Weill, no,’ admitted Her- mitage, slowly. “It certainly wasn’t big enough for that of a man, but it could have belonged to a small woman.” “Then that accounts for it. It was probably made by one of the women when they returned from the lake. As I remember none of them dressed, and it’s possible that the print belongs to one of them.’ Williams dismissed the discovery ‘and, to Gerald’s amazement, Hermitage didn’t press the point. “Now, to get down to important matters. First, did you com- plete your examination of the beast ?” “We did’”’ “Would it be possible that such creatures caused the abandonment of the settle- ment, either by raiding the 43 colony or by making it too dangerous to remain in the Vicinity ?”’ “No.’’ Hermitage sounded very positive. “‘For one thing the beast was far too large to have had any manceuverability outside its natural element. The only thing which it could move out of water were its tentacles, and their range is limited. For another, the gullet was far too small to permit of it preying on any large creature. In this respect it is like the whales on Earth, huge, but able only to swallow tiny life forms, plankton, shrimps, etc. The tentacles seemed to have no other purpose than to sweep water into the mouth. I would say that it was aroused only by the noise and splashing of the swimmers and probably surfaced from sheer curiosity. Also, it mustn’t be forgotten that the woman swimmer, even though followed by the beast, was not molested by it, even though it could have overtaken her or killed her with its tentacles. The only conmcloooks.conm