Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-06-26
The Argus Daily Story
he-emOOuleu-By Z. n. AIECHeI'
CopyriEhted 1911 by Associated Literary Bureau

her knees, clasped her hands and bent
her eyes TO the floor.
20 Apollo" she said (Wetmore is
handsome mani, forgive ME that l
have dared to look upon your celestial
face. Ii you have flown in the air like
a bird You have done a wonder that
no person has spoken of ia these days
or since the sacred ire Was committed
TO the vestaI virgins. Did you ~
from that strange land across the
ocean to the Pillars OF Hercules?'
mo; came in a ship far larger than
the greatest trireme-a ship moving
without oars or sails"
This seemed to affect the girl as even
more Of marvel than flying in the air.
She bent her head clean down to the
floor.
20 Apollo" she said. trembling. '.for
1 am sure you are he, fear you have
come to work disaster on this houseg'
II assure you have not"
Have you come to bring Us goc4
fortune. to beat down those evil Spirits
that would work US mr.
81 would gladly favor you"
Then attack these monsters in the
mountain who are Groanlng under the
work of preparing to shake it as they
did decade ago, when they destroyed
our city"
wetrnore smiled Then. advancing.
he raised the girl, but she dared not
look In his face.
81 have no power over such forces.
am not Apollo, nor Jupiter. nor Her
cules. / am an ordinary man, one OF
many men who have learned that these
phenomena. which to you are the acts
Of gods, are mere forces Of nature. We
have learned that the world Is a great
globe resting on nothing. whirling
around the sun once every year"
THAT cannot be- Atlas supports the
world. And, as for the sun, 1t rises in
| the east and sets in the west. and none
but the gods knows where 1t goes at
| night"
What say know. have started
eastward from Atlantis. gone around
the great globe ana come upoa Atlantis
again from the west"
And yet you say you are not god.
Then how do you steer your ships
|
shores no land is to be seenT'
I'VE poise a steel needle on q point.
so that It swings free. 1t Is always
turned to the north"
And what god points it-NeptuneT
1t occurred to Wetmore that any at
tempt to explain to this one OF peo-
pie who had a god for every force what
even scientists OF the present advanced
age cannot explain would be futile.
"And yet" he said to himself, "even
with all our enlightenment, the source
of these forces-our one Gods no
more Ineligible to US than the many
gods of the ancients were to them"
"Tell me-" said the girl, lowering her
eyes. who is your goddess of lover
I'VE have no such goddess"
The girl looked surprised Nor
Cupid?"
mo Cupid"
"Whence, then, comes lover"
Another point in which we heirs to
the past know no more than the an
clients.
Love is sent by God,' he replied,
with an uncertain tone.
"But thought you said you have no
god for lover"
The difference between our one God
and your many gods is that each of
yours controlled a certain power oil
emotion; our one God controls all. lie
can move us to love as powerfully as
If he had no other work. From heaven,
1 believe at this moment, comes upon
me that which you believe follows
| FROM, N rtIcty 81 Cupfd'g
For whomT"
''For you. fair maiden"
She stood as one in a dream. Wet
more was curious to know how she
would receive the announcement. lie
knew that all his efforts to convince
her that he was not immortal had been
ineffective. What would be her reply
to the announcement that she had been
chosen by a celestial being? At last
raising her eyes filed with an ineffable
pride and happiness. she exclaimed:
Happy mortal. that 1 may be the
mother Of god!"
This is as far as Wetmore ever got
In a clear narration of what he be
lieves to be q meeting with a live
Pompeian. Beyond this point he be
came incoherent He had evidently
been seized with a passion for this
heather maiden. and 1t was returned
but she faded from him Just as he was
about to stretch forth his arms to EN-.
brace her.
Next he was lying on the stone hooI
OF the house Of Cassius, and it was
again a ruin. One of the guardians OF
this city of the past was standing over
! him.
How did You get in here7" asked
the man I'm Italian.
Wetmore looked at him. dazed. He
had not yet got the vision of this house
as 1t was and the maiden he met In II
| out OF his mind He made no reply
The man raised him, led him to the
2 railroad station and put him In train
I at last reports Wetmore is recover
: ing. That IS. he Is recovering from the
a effects of his experience, not the ex
D perience itself
: June % in American