Yes, he saw her, as he had so often curiously longed to see her, moving over the dry shore--she was going back to her sea.

But it was a strange, monstrous thing he saw.

From her gleaming neck down to the ground was dank, shapeless form.

So a walrus or huge seal might appear, could it totter about erect upon low, fin-like feet.

There was no grace of shape, no tapering tail, no shiny scales, only an appearance of horrid quivering on the skin, that here and there seemed glossy in the moonlight.
He saw her make her way toilsomely, awkwardly over the shingle of the beach; and when she reached the shining water, it was at first so shallow that she seemed to wade in it like a land-animal, then, when the water was deep enough to rise up well around her, she turned to him once more a quick glance over her shoulder.