Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-27

serve her emotion and divine it's cause, she
seized a favorable moment to steal from
the apartment, without SO little as Gooo
night" lest her voice should betray her.
And on attaining her dainty bed room she
flung herself upon the bed and gave way to
emotion, despising herself as 1ooiisn' anu
yet unable to check her tears; ,a
IF he but knew her true character! she
murmured. If he but knew! But II Is no.
for me to tell him. He wiil-he must learn
+ it in time And then-and then-perhaps-
it may be-that-
But Beatrice put this hope from her as
too delightful ever to be realized.
Now to examine my noble Viking. sald
Idris. taking up the skull from the table.
Let us see whether he has suHereo any
injury in his roll down stairs. Hul-lo!
Shaking the skull as he spoke, his atten-
ton was arrested by faint rattle within
it. sound that he had not hearo III MS
previous landings of the relic
Listen, Godfrey he cried IN curious
tone of voice. and shaking the skull again
''What is this inside?'
He stopped the motion to examine the
skull more carefully. Strange that till TINS
moment he had not noticed that the occip-
ital bone was pierced by tiny hole OF CIR
cular shape! .s
pointing out the orifice. This could have
been caused only by sharp-pointed In
strument The thing rafting within must
be fragment of some weapon.
He gave the skull another shake, wnen'
from the vertebral orifice there dropped
piece of rusty steel about two inches IN
length, slender, rounded and tapering to
point. at.
n, his head" said Idris. $50 it is clear that
we have here a fragment OF the ldentical
weapon that gave old Orm his coup-de-
grace"
in shop window, will attract little. if any
notice: but let it be known that the SAID
steel is the instrument with which muir
md q
will come trooping forth to view; and fancy
prices will be offered for 1t by connois-
seurs of the gruesome.
Deep, therefore. was the interest win
which the two friends viewed their latest
discovery.
.'Then this cannot be the skull Of Orm
the Viking" remarked Godfrey, after a
thoughtful pause. II the tapestry we
ceived as an authority, since that repre-
sents him as slain by an arrow piercing his
breast"
This contradiction between the evidence
presented by the skull and that presented
by the tapestry, perplexed 1dris in no small
degree Having conceived the somewhat
pleasing notion that he was the possessor
of the skull of Orm the Golden, he was
10th to reIinauish his belief, and prepared
to argue the point.
Artists whether in needlework or i'll
oils are not always to be accepted as his
toric authorities. L have no doubt sup
pressio veri was practiced as much in the
Viking age as in our own. If Orm died
with a wound in the occ1put, what does that
seem to show? That he must have turned
his back on his foes in defiance of the
canons of Morse bravery. Do you think
that the weavers of the tapestry would let
posterity know that Orm had turned cow
ard? No! Therefore they make him die
with an arrow in his breast facing the foe.
bold to the last. The tumuluS in Ravens
dale is certainly Orm's tomb; the name
OrmfeIl and the tapestry prove it. and
49, tns Ie fI,Oey.
of Orm."
Hum. I'm not convinced" replied God
frey. "You believe this steel to be the
fragment of a battle weapon; of what kind
of weapon? 1t is too slender to have
formed part of sword or a dagger; too
finely pointed to have been the barb of a
lance or an arrow.
TT may be spike from that sort of
mace which the Vikings in their playful
way were wont to call their Morning Star
This is perhaps stellar ray"
Rather fragile for the spike Of a mace,
isn't it?'
''True confess l am as much puzzled
as yourself to name the weapon of which
this once formed part"
For long time Idris continued to puz-
gle over the question. polishing the steel
fragment till it cleaned with silvery
azure light He suggested its connection
with all kinds of impossible weapons, but
could come to no satisfactory conclusion
Then, vexed by Godfrey's skepticism, he
said:
"Wen, old wiseacre, II this be not Orm's
skull, tell me whose 1t is?'
Impossible to say-at present. My opin-
ion is that it is not an ancient skull at all.
but a modern one. The future will perhaps
show whether I am right. AS there's d.
vinity that shapes human affairs. 1t may be
that the earthquake of tonight has been
sent for a purpose. 1t has had the effect of
loosening the fragment Of steel hitherto i'm
movably fixed in the cavity of the skull.
You win, perhaps. consider me fanciful.
Idris but / have a presentiment that We
are on the threshold of a startling discov-
ery to which this piece of steel forms
clue"
(To be continued tomorrow.)