Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-02-13

hocA NiSulCbtST bCtNSSu hlo iiBS, Nui ing lantern, blew the light out and sat down with a careless greeting, as though he had seen us only the day before
 ''Hullo, boys," said he, "been busy?"
 'How are ye, sir" replied Handy Solomon. Good Lord, mates, look at thatr'
 Our eyes followed the direction of his foreinger. Against the dark blue of the evening sky to northward glow ed faint phosphorescence, arch shap- ed from which shot, with pulsating regularity, long shafts of light. They beat almost to the zenith and back again halt dozen times; then the whole illumination disappeared with the suddenness of gas turned out
 ''Now, I wonder what that might be-" marveled Thrackles.
 Northern lights" hazarded Pulz. sI'~e seen them almost like that in the Boring seas"
 Northern lights your eyew sneered Handy Solomon. ''You may have seen them in the Boring seas, but never this far south and in August and you can kiss the book on that"
 ''What do you think, sir?" Thrackles inquired of the assistant.
 Devils fire," replied Percy Oar row briefly. ''The islands little queer. I've noticed it before"
 "Debbil fire," repeated the nigger.
 Darrow turned directly to him.
 "Yes, devils fire, and devils, too, for all I kSow, and certainly vampires. Did you ever hear of vampires, doc tor?'
 ''No," growled the nigger.
 "Well, they are women, wonderful, beautiful women. A man on long voyage would just smack his lips to see them. They have shiny gray eyes and lips red as raspberries. When you meet them they will talk with you and go home with you. And then when you're asleep they tear little hole in your neck with their sharp claws, and they suck the blood with their red lips. When they aren't women they take the shape of big bats like birds" He turned to me with so beautifully casual an air that wanted to clap him on the back with the joy of it.
 By the way, Eagen, have you mo- ticed those big bats the last few even ings over by the cliff? I cant make out in the dusk whether they are vampires or just plain bats" He di- rected his remarks again to the nig- ger. Next time you see any of those big bats, doctor. just you notice close. If they have just plain black eyes they're all right, but if they have gray eyes, with red rims around 'em, they're vampires. I wish you'd let me know if you do find out. It's in- teresting.'
 "Don' get me near no bats" growled the nigger.
 "where's SeloverT' inquired Oar row.
 He stays aboard" hastened to Ry. "wants to keep an eye on the shiR
 That's laudable. What have you been doing?'
 We've been cleaning ship. Just finished yesterday evening""
 "what nextT'
 eve were thinking of wrecking the Golden Horn"
 "Quite right. Well, if you want any help with your engines or anything of the sort, call me"
 He arose aud began to light his lan- tern.
 "I'hope as how you're getting on well there above. sirT' ventured Handy Solomon insinuatingly
 every well, I thank you" replied Percy Darrow dryly. Remember those vampires. doctor"
 He swung the lantern and departed without further speech We followed the spark of it until 1t disappeared in the arroyo.
 Behind US believed the sea. Over against Us in the sky was the duil threatening glow of the volcano. About US were mysterious noises of crying birds. barking seals, rustling or rush ing winds. felt the throngIng ghosts of all the old worlds superstition swirl ing madly behind us in the eddies that twisted the smoke ot our fire.
 We wrecked the Golden Horn. For ward was q rlIsted out donkey engine. which we took to pieces and put to- gether again. It was no mean job. for all the running parts had to be cleaned smooth and with the excep- >iOn of a rudimentary knowledge on the part of Pulz and Perdosa we were ignorant In fact we should not have succeeded at all had it not been for Percy DarTOw and his lantern. The first evening we took him over 10 the eliff-s edge he laughed aloud.
 'Eave. boys. how could you guess 1t xfl wrongy' he wondered.
 With a few brief words he set us right. Pulz. PertFnsa and listening in- tently. the others indifferent in the hopelessness Of being able to compre- bend Of course we went wrong again in our next days experiments. nut DarrOw was down two or three times q week and gradually we edged toward a practical result.
 His explanations consumed but a few moments After they were fn- iSbed we adjourned 10 the fire
 Thus we came gradually 10 a better scquafutance with the doctors assist ant Tn many respects he remained always a p1zzze to me. Certainly the men never knew how to take him. He was evidently not only unzfraid of them. but ge11inely indifferent to them
 Yet he disp-aFti certain interest i7 their needs an1 zFafrs His przcti-