Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-07-15

so dramatic that 1t can never have
been paralleled In the history Of scien-
ti1c gatherings. Professor Challenger
raised his hand in the air as signal,
and at once our colleague, Mr.. Z. d.
Malone, was observed to rise and to
make his way to the back Of the plat
form. An instant later he reappeared
in company Of gigantic negro, the
two Of them bearing between them a
large square packing case. All sound
had hushed In the audience and every
one was absorbed In the spectacle be-
fore them. Professor Challenger drew
Off the top Of the case, which formed
sliding lid. Peefing down into the
box, lie snapped his fingers several
times and was heard from the press
seat to say, Come, then, pretty pretty!
in coaxing voice. An instant later,
with scratching rattling sound,
most horrible and loathsome creature
appeared from below and perched It.
self upon the side Of the case.
"Even the unexpected fall of the
Duke of Durham into the orches-
ira, which occurred at this moment,
could not distract the petrifled atten-
ti0n Of the vast audience. The face
of the creature was like the widest
gargoyle that the Imagination of
ceived. 1t was malicious, horrible,
with two small red eyes as bright as
points of burning coal. Its long, saw
age mouth, which was held half open,
was full of double row of sharklike
teeth. Its shoulders were bumped,
and round them was draped what ap.
peared to be faded gray shawl. 1t
was the devil OF our childhood In per.
son. There was turmoil In the audi.
ence- some one screamed two ladies
In the front row fell senseless from
their chairs, and there was a general
movement upon the platform to follow
their chairman into the orchestra. For
a moment there was danger of a gen.
eral panic. Professor Challenger threw
up his hands to still the commotion,
but the movement alarmed the crea-
ture beside him, Its strange shawl
suddenly unfurled, spread and 1utter-
ed as a pair of leathery wings. Its
owner grabbed at its legs, but too late
to hold 1t. 1t had sprung from the
perch and was circling slowly round
the Queens hall with dry, leathery
tapping of Its ten foot wings, while a
putlid and insldlous odor pervaded the
room. The cries of the people in the
galleries, who were alarmed at the
near approach of those glowing eyes
and that murderous beak, excited the
creature to frenzy. Faster and fast
er 1t flew, beating against walls and
chandeliers In blind frenzy of alarm.
The wlndowl For heavens sake shut
that wlndowr roared the professor
from the platform, dancing and wiring
Ing his hands In an agony of appre-
henslon. Alas, his warning was too
latel In moment the creature, beat
ing and humping along the wall like
huge moth within gas shade, came
upon the opening, squeezed its hideous
bulk through It and was gone. Pro
fessor Challenger fell back into his
| II
hands, while the audience gave one
long, deep sigh of relief as they real
lied that the incident was over.
"Then-oh, bow shall one describe
what took place then-when the full
exuberance of the majority and the
full reaction OF the minority united tt
make one great wave of enthusiasm
which rolled from the back of the hall
gathering volume as 1t came, swept
over the orchestra, submerged the
platform and carried the four heroe:
away upon Its crestf" Good for you
Mach IF the audience had done less
than justice surely 1t made ampl,
amends. Every one was on his feet
Every one was moving, shouting ges
ticulatlng, A dense crowd OF cheering
men were around the four travellers
up with theml Up with themp erie,
hundred voices. In a moment fou
figures shot up above the crowd. Il
vain they stroye to break loose. The
were held In their lofty places of hon
~ NVuN haNN ttth hoiN W sc
| them down IL 1t had been wished S
. dense was the crowd. Out IN tn
, street the scene was extraordinary. A
assembage OF not less than 10000
} people was waiting. The close packe
: throng extended from the other side o
the Langham hotel TO Oxford circu:
: A roar OF reclamation greeted the fou
! adventurers as they appeared, hig
: above the heads OF the people. unde
l the vivid electric lamps outside th
hall. "A processlonl A procession
was the cry. In a dense phalan'
blocking the streets from side to sid,
the crowd set forth, taking the rout
OF Regent street, Pail Mall, St jane
:, tstreet and Piccadilly. The whole Gel
tral traffic of London was held up, an
, many collisions were reported betwee
the demonstrators upon the one sid
/. and the police and taxi cabmep upo