Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1905-06-01

OF human being, while saliva 1ripped
necessarily from the corners of the
mouth down the chin The ears, of
unusual size originally, had been
clipped so that only the lower two
thirds remained. A scar, starting be-
tween the eyes at the root of the nose,
ran upward until it was lost in the
tangled masses of his reddish brown
hair. His eyes, which were the most
remarkable feature of all in addition
to their stare were OF that rare and
curious shade of gray which changed
in expression according to the mood
of the owner; then they seemed to
CLEAN alternately with the mad fires
of the hopeless maniac, and again with
the all-but-quenched rays of reason OF
an idiot. All of these physical pecu-
liarities were accentuated by the crea~
ture, as he stood with arms akimbo,
feet we'll apart, eyes almost starting
from their sockets, tongue protruding
and ears slowly moving up and down,
lille a most diabolical grin overspread
the greater portion of his face.
"Mordioux!" cried Tonti. What have
we here? Some gargoyle stTayed from
his post on the stone corners of Notre
Dame; or is it a new court jester; or
one of the Gadarene swine that be-
came possessed of devils the good
Able Renaudot told me of? Ha, ha!
or best of all, one of the progeny of
that hell-bOund Mazarin or my Lord
Colbert-hola! none of that, or out of
the window you shall go as you came,
only head first"
This last exclamation was induced
by sudden movement of the fantastic
creature before him. During the first
part of Tonti's speech the little man
had stood playing the idiot, but as
soon as Colberts name was mentioned,
he suddenly changed his expression.
The gray eyes lost their look of mad,
ness and cleaned with light of in
tense hatred Suddenly drawing a
small dagger from his person, he
threw it in the face of Tonti, who
stood about three PAGES off. The SOL
der had often seen that look in an
adversary's eye in duel and battle,
and he knew well it portended some
sudden action. Instinctively he raised
his hand to ward off the impending
danger, as he saw the movement of
the mans arm. The weapon glanced
through the air, and struck the up
lifted palm of his left hand. Instead
of piercing it, as one would have eX-
pected from the force with which it
was thrown, it stopped with metallic
clink and fell with blunted point to
the floor. Quick as thought, the young
soldier sprang to his sword, seized it,
and came at his treacherous visitor,
who stood awaiting his approach with
out making the slightest movement.
Tonti presented the point against his
breast eXclaiming:
Now then, my fine fellow, if you
have any more such compliments to
give me. kindly do it now, and | shall
show you in return how we spit a
chicken for roasting in my native
town"
The man glared at him a moment,
then with a sudden effort reorganized
his features completely. This was as
much of a surprise to Tonti as the
attack had been, for in an instant the
protruding tongue and fangs disap-
peared, the eyes became less promi-
nent and lost their wildness and the
whole man was changed; even the
scars seemed to lose their whiteness
and become more like the surround
ing skin. A supplicating look came
iSto his face, and as Tontis sword
point was dropped in his amazement, !
the man fell on his knees, murmur-
ing: Pardon! Pardon!"
ITO Be Continued.l