and then , as everyone waited with bated breath a quick , merciful submerging of both parties , a string of bubbles rose and burst in the middle of the river , followed by a curiously-shaped thing which bobbed and then finally emerged : a fault if there ever was one : a two-headed creature , hirsute as a shaggy sheep , with a single circular eye in the centre of each head , tainted with its makers deep brown colour and black end spots the eyes of a thing already dead , and yet suddenly the two misshapen mouths sprung open together and let out a piercing double shriek .