The Press., 1893-04-13
outh--and then the shape of the whole

mouth--and then the shape of the whole is oval"
 Perhaps so," said |; "but, Legrand, I fear you are no artist. must wait until I see the beetle itself if am to form any idea of it's personal appear ance."
 ssWer, don't know" said he, little nettled. q draw tolerably should do it at least-have had good masters and latter myself that I am not quite blockhead."
 stBut, my dear fellow, you are joking then" said I, "this is very. passable skull-indeed I must say that it is very excellent skull, according to the vulgar notions about such specimens of physiol- ogy-and your scarabaeus must be the aueerest scarab@us in the world if it re- sembles it. Why, we may get up 8 very thrilling bit of superstition upon this hint. I presume you will call the bug scarab@us caput hominis, or something of that kind there are many similar ti- ties in the natural histories. But where are the antenn@ you spoke of?'
 'sThe antenn@!" said Legrand, who seemed to be getting unaccountably warm upon the subj 1ct "I am sure you must see the antenn8. made them as distinct as they are in the original in- sect, and presume that is sufficient
 "Well, we'll" I said, perhaps you have-still don't see them" and hand ed him the paper w;"hout additional re- mark, not wishing to rufhe his temper, but was much surprised at the turn af- ! e 1, 1o1 me, and, as for the drawing of the bee tie, there were positively no antennw | visible, and the whole did bear very close resemblance to the ordinary cuts of deaths head.
 1 He received the paper very peevishly and was about to crumple it, apparently to throw it into the fire, when 8 casual glance at the design seemed suddenly to rivet his attention. In an instant his l 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 1 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 abstracted. 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 ill this mood I deemed it proper
 to take leave. He did not press me te
 remain, but as departed he shook my hand with even more than his usual cor diality. 1 It was about month after this-an6
 during the interval had seen nothing of Legrand-when I received a visit al 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.
 "Well, Jup," said I, 'what is the mat
 ter now? How is your master?'