Evening star., 1902-01-04

melted into little pools on the burned table.
Nothing here said Glenny, impatiently.
This is just my workshop. Step on here,
and we'll go below.
Then | observed that in the center of the
HooI was movable platform like that of
freight elevator. Glenny had lighted a
long candle and gave it to me to hold while
he manipulated the rope that controlled
the counterpoise, and we went down-down
dark shaft, twenty or thirty feet. Then
the earth walls changed to stone, and in
two minutes We touched the bottom.
We were in a chamber perhaps fifteen
feet square hewn and blasted from the
solid rock. At one side stood small table
holding physical apparatus, among which
l noticed number of delicate thermom-
eters. An iron shaft ran down, apparently
from the room above. and connected with
small and complicated looking machine
In corner Close to this was a box-like
trench. resembling a shallow grave cut in
the rock floor. Its massive metal lid was
raised. and in the cavity lay some long OBJ
ject, covered with blanket.
That. said Glenny, solemnly, sis my
evil angel"
ut looks very harmless said, more
earelessly than l felt, and pulled off the
cloth.
l shall never forget the shock. I hardly
know what 1 had expected to find-perhaps
corpse. But there lay a marvellous statue
of man in solid gold, little less than
life size, and somewhat spongy-looking,
but absolutely perfect. Every hair every
thread of the clothing was duplicated in
the precious metal that glittered in the
candle light. But at the moment | scarcely
realized the miracle of its workmanship
and material. for the form and features
were those of Augustus Kearnahan
In heavens name"' / calculated. sis this
mine? Do you mean to say that you cast
tnat statue yourself? Do You know that
it's the most wonderful thing ever done?"
Il dare say said Glenny. II knew you
wouldn't believe unless you saw it. But IT
isn't statue; 1t can't be called anything
but corpse-at any rate it's all that re-
mains of the man. Do you know him?"
Il know the face" 1 cried. But this is
gold.'
Yes he said. 9TH tell you all about 1t.
wanted you to see for yourself You prob
ably didn't know that 1 was once some
thing of cracksman, did your
Il certainly did not
1T was before L was twenty, and 1 was
quite a success at it. That was how I
came TO know him." pointing at the golden
image that regarded the roof with a yellow
stare. He kept a gambling house in New
orleans then, and one night 1 tried to get
into his safe with some tools of my own
invention and he came down and caught
me In the act. Greatly to my surprise. he
dli not have me arrested, but after a long
tax over revolver barrel he let me go.
That was the beginning. Nobody can
think worse of Kearnahan than / do. but
he had more foresight and shrewdness than
any other man l ever knew. / was arrest
ed month later for another affair. and he
baned me out and then told me to jump
my bail and go north, where he would look
after me. 1t seems that he detected nv
scientific bent before l discovered IL myself
ana he sent me to a good school, where
they hammered mathematics and elemen-
tary science into me. and finally matricu-
| lated me for Chicago University, where
| yoE saw me. i don't want you to fall in
love, take to drink, make any friends or
| get religion he said to me. Outside of
that you can do as You d. please and call
| on me Tor the price. know you've got the
| head for what l want
TT seemed that 1 had You remember
| the way l went through practical and
| theoretical physics. seemed to have a pc
! culiar knack for the work. and never was
| happier in my life. except for his prohibit
| tion against making friends. l felt too
In anything, but never could understand
the reason for IL, or for HIS befriending me
/ at ali-till l graduated.
4 fhen he sent for me to his own city
| where he had just got himself appointed
| chief of police, and found that he had
! been quietly collecting evidence of all my
| youthfui m!sdeeds. enough to get me a
| good twenty years in the prisons of two or
three states. He said blandly that he
wouldn't bring these things to light Just at
| present. though, as he had some work he
wanted me to do, and he proposed TO es-
tablish me In laboratory of my own in
1 St. Louis. :
'Of course I Jumped at the opening.
nad hoped to spend my life in scientific
| work, and would rather have faced death
4 inan tweIsy years of penal servitude just
then. But II wasn't long before discov-
/ cred what sort of scientific labors were To
j be imposed upon me. Kearnaflan made no
bones about telling me that he was inter
esteo IN the enterprises of half dozen