The rent, torn, and dislocated stonework looked worse than before; the upheaved foundations, the piled-up fragments of masonry, the fissures in the torn earth--all were at the worst.

The Worm's hole was still evident, a round fissure seemingly leading down into the very bowels of the earth.

But all the horrid mass of blood and slime, of torn, evil-smelling flesh and the sickening remnants of violent death, were gone.

Either some of the later explosions had thrown up from the deep quantities of water which, though foul and corrupt itself, had still some cleansing power left, or else the writhing mass which stirred from far below had helped to drag down and obliterate the items of horror.

A grey dust, partly of fine sand, partly of the waste of the falling ruin, covered everything, and, though ghastly itself, helped to mask something still worse.
After a few minutes of watching, it became apparent to the three men that the turmoil far below had not yet ceased.