The daily democrat. [volume] (Anadarko, Oklahoma) 190?-1908, 1908-10-31
The Blue Light
on The Mountain,
lcopyrIshl BY shortstory pub. 90
By PAUL CRANDALL


tains So enhancing that he turned
to il the first thing each morning and
the last thing at night-when the
nights were clear Somber one morn
Ing. gay the next. The old range took
on now look each day till Fargo
thought the variety nexhaustible, bur
on the night OF May . n climax was
roached-whcn he saw the blue light
on Pulpit Knob.
II was u little after midnight when
he walked over To the window to see
II his old friends, the mountains. were
all righ, before he went To bed. The
moon, in its last quarter. was just
rising over the Pulpit. and the silhou.
cite OF a clump of graceful trees was
sharply outlined against it's disc.
As Fargo stood looking at the
branches traced on the moon. wonder.
ing idly whether the trees were noun.
tain ash or oak, the lower part of the
moon suddenly turned an intense blue
that impossible blue that Is the
color of all the lakes on all the drop
curtains in the world. II only lasted
few seconds. but Fargo remained at
his window a quarter of an hour or so.
trying To reason the thing out. until
the moon rose clear of the mountain,
when suddenly the clump of trees was
flooded with blue. showing that the
color must be luminous in itself
Fargo hunted up his field glass,
opened the window ana focused upon
the mystery. and as he did so he saw
clump of trees gradually uprooted by
some unseen force, turned bottom up
wards and topple down the side OF the
mountain.
The clock downstairs struck one.
Fargo figured that he could ride out to
Pulpit Knob on his wheel, investigate
the phenomenon and return home in
side OF two hours-before anyone of
the household could know of his alb.
sence-and he felt that he would
much rather do so than attempt to
sleep with the puzzle unsolved.
II was nearly two o'clock when he
reached the little old brick church
near the foot OF the Knob. He stabbed
his bicycle between two headstones
in the churchyard and. climbing over
the wall in the rear, faced the noun
tain. which loomed up dark and for.
bidding. while the hazy blue light
cleaned against the sky and q soft,
strange. swishlng noise came down to
his ears.
II there was a path up the mountain
Fargo could not md IL, and the climb
through the scrub underbrush was Il
full half hour OF great discomfort and
exertion. His breath was short enough
as he neared the summit, but when he
was within 20 feet of the top. and a
blast Of hot air. charged with sui
phurous odor. swept down upon him.
he was forced TO sit on fallen tree
trunk and wheeze until he got the viii
lanous fumes out Of his, lungs.
lie was just beginning to recover his
breath when the swishing noise in.
creased to a mufiied shrek, and he
had only time TO see large tree poised
above him for moment, its roots
high in air. and then 90 crashing past
him down the mountain, before Il
shower OF stinging sand blotted every
thlng from sight.
"Magyary, Magyary." he heard Il
hoarse voice shout, IF you let that
nozzle slip again all Stuyvesant county
will know by daylight what's going
on up here. II you can't keep awake
I'll come out there and do the trick
myself"
Fargo could not catch what was
shouted back in reply. He waited a
few moments. and then cautiously
crawled to the top and lay fiat on the
ground behind thick growth OF
bushes
About 80 feet in front of him on the
fiat mountain top was a rough. omen
shed, In which hammock was swung.
and I'm the hammock lay the largest
man he had ever seen. In front of the
shed, between two long poles, swung
sort of censor. emitting a pungent
odor. Fargo afterward remembered
wondering why such contrlvance
should be needed To drive on insects
when a breeze always blew over the
knob
Farther along to the right was a
queer structure that looked like n
series of galvanized iron tunnels,
whose faring ends, instead of being
circular, were rectangular, and about
the size of an ordinary box freight.car.
Placed in circle. the large openings
on the outside, the small ends met al
u center like the spokes of a wheel.
At one end, on a nlatfOrm. sat a
man who must have been a twin to
the big fellow in the shed, for the was
his exact counterpart. In his hands
he held lever by which he controlled
the nozzle OF pipe, out OF which was
rushing with great force a stream OF
sand, six inches thick.
Fargo moved few feet nearer. TO
get better view when he was sudden
ly seized with an uncomfortable fit of
sneezing.
With the agility of a cat the man
l.. 4.