Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1892-05-27
THE CHALLENGE.

llllL
Painters. don't tell me of painters
fellows who work in canvas. Give
ME iron, the stuff that cndures for
ever! These pictures that folk call
immortal, what are they: One slash
OF a knife, II dab with a stick, even
one scrape of some careless fellows
elbow, aud where is all their beauty:
I'll be bound that iron lantern of
mine up yonder in the church tower
will last longer than any of their fine
Immortal paintings"
sAnd by that time" said a quiet
voice behind him, sit will have
grown rusty like its author, and men
will remember it as little as they do
him."
The new comer-who had Just
stepped out of a quiet little tavern in
the market place of a quaint old
Flemish city, IN front of which the
sturdy smith stood praising his own
Occupation-was a stout, ruddy man,
in a handsome though rather slovenly
dress, and wearing Il look of careless
good humor which seemed to mark
him as n who was fondcr of pleas
ure than of work. But behind this
there lay a nameless something i'm his
(large forehead and clear bright eye,
: which would have told to an appreci-
alive observer that this was no COM
non man.
The keen and sudden retort upon
the boastful blacksmith tickled the
fancy OF the %bystandcrs, who greeted
it with a loud laugh, and IL shout of
"Wcll said, Hans Holbcin!"
sHans Iiolbcin?:" echoed the smith,
turning around angrily at this open
insult to his trade-for i'm unose days
Gas may he seen by the example OF
Quentin Mats"s of Antwerp a skilled
ironworker ranked with sculptors and
painters. and not unfrequcntly stood
higher than either; ssof Il truth he
may we'll think highly of painting,
since he getteth his bread by it. But,
bark We, Master Holbein: men call
thee a great painter. and | doubt not
but what thou callest thyself so, toe.
Dost thou think, now, that with all
thy skill thou canst produce any
thing surprising the best that I
can dog"
81 venture to believe that l CAM
answered the great artist, with u
quiet smile.
$50 he it, them" rcioined the
blacksmith, defiantly. eve will each
of us do u best, and this day month
will we meet on this spot to try
which of us two is the better man.
Say 1 we'll. comrades?"
The group Of listener-which had
by this time swellcd into Il pretty
large crowd-unanimously agreed that
the match was a fair one; and as Hol-
bein turned to depart, the stalwart
blacksmith nodded his huge head
after him detiantly, with the air of a
man who had settled the matter once
for all.
For the next few weeks the chal-
lenger scarcely ever stirred out of his
forge, and public curiosity was on tip
toe to know what marvel he could be
producing; but as the smith worked
with closed doors, and had neither
wife nor child to keep watch upon
him nothing could be learned but
tnat he was very busy.
AS usual in such cases, however,
fancy supplied the place of informa-
tion. and the less the townspeople
knew, the more they imagined. All
sorts of rumors, each more amazing
than the other. were in circulation
about the masterpiece upon which
the blacksmith was engaged. Some
asserted that he was making an iron
weathercock which would flap its
wings and crow at sunrise Just like
the real bird. Others were equally
positive that the new wonder was q
trap that would bait and set itself,
and throw away the rat when killed
into the bargain; and others still de-
clared that the great artificer was
constructing an iron man, who could
walk about the house and wait lat
table as we'll as any living servant.
But there was another thing that
puzzled the good folk Of the town
quite as much as the mysterious in
dustry of the blacksmith, and that
was the mysterious idleness of his
rival, Hans Holbein. While one of
the two competitors seemed to be
doing too much, the other was APP
parently doing nothing at all. Every
one expected, Of course, that Hol-
bein would be as busy in his studio as
the blacksmith WAS in his forge,
laborlng day and night on some