Now the crying of the pigs begins to falter and stop. Yes, they stop. One by one,
they stop. Their squeals die in hoarse, bloody gargling sounds. The Beast howls
again, its cry as silver as the moon. Elmer goes to the window and sees somethinghe
cannot tell what-go bounding off into the deeper darkness.

The rain comes later, pelting against the windows as Elmer and Alice sit up in bed
together, all the lights in the bedroom on. It is a cold rain, the first real rain
of the autumn, and tomorrow the first tinge of color will have come into the
leaves .

Elmer finds what he expects in his pig-pen; carnage. All nine of his sows and both
of his boars are dead- disembowelled and partly eaten.

September