The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1893-04-13
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''W.:i. ruppose II is. Jup," replied Lee
grand, somewhat mLre earnestly, it
seemed to me. than the case demanded,
lis that any reason for your letting the
birds burn! The colo" he turned
to me-''is really almost enough to war
rant Jupiter's idea. You never saw
more brilliant metallic luster than the
scales emit-butof this you cannot judge
till tomorrow. In the meantime I can
give you some idea of the shape" Say
ing this he seated himself at a small ta-
BILE ON which were pen and ink. but no
paper. He looked for me in a drawer.
but found none.
Never mind" said he at length, "this
will answer" and he drew from his
waistcoat pocket a scrap of what I took
to be very dirty foolscap and made upon
it rough drawing with the pen. While
he did this l retained my seat by the fire,
for was still chilly. When the design
was complete, he handed it to me with
out rising. AS received it a loud growl
was heard, succeeded by a scratching at
the door. Jupiter opened it, and large
Newfoundland belonging to Legrand
rushed in, leaped upon my shoulders
and loaded me with caresses, for had
shown him much attention during pre-
vious visits. When his ga1nbols were
over, looked at the paper. and. to speak
the truth, found myself not a little puz-
zled at what my friend had depicted.
We'll, | said. after contemplating it
cfr,o1a co
scarabaus. must confess: new to me;
never saw anything like it before, un-
less it was skull or deaths head
which it more nearly resembles than
anything else that has come under my
observation
"A deaths head" echoed Legrand.
"Oh-yes-well. it has something of that
appearance upon paper no doubt. The
two upper black spots look like eyes, eh?
and the longer one at the bottom like a
mouth-and then the shape of the whole
is oval"
Perhaps So" said l: "but, Legrand,
fear you are no artist. I must wait
until l see the beetle itself if I am to
form any idea of it's personal appear
ance."
''Well. don't know" said he, little
nettled. Il draw tolerably should do it
at least-have had good masters and
aatter myself that am not quite a
blockhead."
But. my dear fellow. you are joking
then," said l, this is very passable
skull-indeed | must say that it is very
excellent skull, according to the vulgar
notions about such specimens of physiol-
ogy-and your scarab@us must be the
queerest scarabaus in the world if it re-.
sembles it. Why, we may get up very
thrilling bit of superstition upon this
hint. presume you will call the bug
scarabBus caput hominis. or something
of that kind-there are many similar IT,
ties in the natural histories. But where
are the antennP you spoke off,
THE antennn!" said Legrand, who
seemed to be getting unaccountably
warm upon the subject Il am sure
you must see the antenna. | made them
as distinct as they are in the original in
sect. and presume that is sufficient"
We'll, WELL" said. perhaps you
have-still don't see them?" and hand
ed him the paper without additional re-
mark, not wishing to ruffle his temper,
but was much surprised at the turn af-
fairs had taken. His i'll humor puzzled
me, and. as for the drawing of the bee
tie, there were positively no antenn@
visible. and the whole did bear a very
close resemblance to the ordinary cuts
of deaths head.
He received the paper very peevishly
and waSabout to crumple it, apparently
to throw it into the fire. when a casual
glance at the design seemed suddenly to
rivet his attention In an instant his
face grew violently red-in another as
excessively pale. For some minutes he
continued to scrutinize the drawing mi
nutely where he sat. At length he arose,
took candle from the table and pro-
ceeded to seat himself upon sea chest in
the farthest corner of the room. Here
again he made an anxious examination
of the paper, turning it in all directions.
He said nothing. however, and his con-
duct greatly astonished me. yet thought
it prudent not to exacerbate the growing
moodiness of his temper by any COM
ment.
Presently he took from his coat pocket
wallet, placed the paper carefully in
it, and deposited both in writing desk,
which he locked. He now grew more
composed in his demeanor, but his origi-
nal air Of enthusiasm had quite disap-
peared, yet he seemed not so much sulky
as distracted. AS the evening wore away
he became more and more absorbed in
reverie, from which no sallies of mine
could arouse him. It had been my in
tention to pass the night at the hut, as !
had frequently done before, but seeing
my host in this mood deemed it proper
to take leave. He did not press me to
remain, but as I departed he shook my
hand with even more than his usual cor
diality.
1t was about month after this-and
during the interval I had seen nothing
of Legrand-when received a visit at
Charleston from his man Jupiter.
had never seen the good old negro look
so .dispirited, and feared that some seri-
ous disaster had befallen my friend.