Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1917-12-21

forgetting his dis, ?Ilns Jor TIE nra,
time. "And Closls, too. THY sor
Of edged US in here. We were afraid
you were dead"
They gave Us a little longer reH-
plte," answered Donald. davies, alg
l mad or dreaming, or are we breath
Ing under water?"
III you're dreaming, then Clouts
and / are too" said the little MILDLY.
Hello! There ClOuts goes again
I've tried to keep him resigned, but
he gets frantic occasionally"
With a sudden howl that seemed to
rise from the depths Of an outraged
nature, Clouts, lowering his head,
rushed like a battering ram into the
doorway. The watchers saw him re-
coil as If he had butted Q feather bed.
lie looked up, rubbed his head In per-
plexity, and then, retiring a few
PAGES, repeated his experiment more
~furiously than before.
Again he was hurled back, as q ball
rebounds from the cushion Of q bill
Hard table. The monsters bodies
blocked the entrance as effectively
as II they we're Of rubber.
Slowly Sam Clouts withdrew, look
ing back with a puzzled expression.
Meanwhile the three glanced about.
They were In a huge natural cave,
in which the sea monsters had evil
IDENTIFY been at work, for the interior
was coated with mud, hardened In
some peculiar manner to resist the
water. And yet Donald had the same
impression Of q beehive. There was
something of sameness everywhere,
the same sense Of automatism.
1t was quite bare, except at one
end, where arose a mud mound, deco
rated with sesshells, and upon this
was what looked like the upright
skeleton of a small mammal.
"Look" exclaimed Donald.
ut came from-from behind tho
curtain" said Davies In awe. "Don-
aid, the air was thicker some
thing keeps rolling back r
They looked at each other, still I'M
convinced that they were awake and
alive. Then they went toward the OBJ.
ject at the end.
Sam Clouts, who had preceded
them, fell back with an exclamation
Of horror.
"Yes, Cloutsr" said Donald.
~ beg your pardon, sir, but don't
you see that it's meant to be q per
son, sirT"
lie spoke the truth. The figure was
n rough pile Of bones, but high above
them n ~grinning human face, made OF
the same plastered mud, looked down,
1t was the first sign Of conscious
process among the monsters, and
some devil craftsman had contrived
to catch, not so much the form as the
humanness of II.
1t was upon a larger scale, precisely
such n figure as a child or a savage
might have made in it's first efforts tc
reproduce the human figure. There
were even the dawnings Of art In the
shape of whales ear-bones, strung
braceletwise, across the breast.
The mound beneath the figure con
sisted of innumerable bones, a sort OF
kitchen hidden such as Neolithic man
left behind him as a testimony to his
oyster feasts.
Davies picked up n Of the bones
and looked at it intently.
"Donaldw he said softly, not to at
tract the attention of Ida, who, seated
on the floor against the mound, seemed
on the point of falling asleep from
WEAKNESS. He held out the bone.
Both looked at 1t. 1t was the bont
of a fipper heel. The monsters were
cannibal, beyond any doubt.
"Davies!" cried Donald, a momen'
later. Don't you see what that figure
is? It's an idol. And the bones arr
those of creatures of their w spe
cies, and others, sacrificed to 1t by tn
monsters in their abominable feasts
It's the first dawnings Of self-con
seriousness, the awakening Of the re
ligious perceptions!"
There could be no other interprc
tation. They looked at each other II
horror and something Of awe.
; The thing had been fashioned, pei
; haps, after an ideal never seen, or pei
chance some forgotten ancestor, cas-
up on an Inhabited shore, had see
man and returned, to embody him l
his remembered guise.
SO these half-blind and voiceles
: devils of the sea were cropping slowl
upward, as our ancestors had don
4 many a hundred thousand years ag'
toward hope and endeavor. The Spir
Of God stirred in the dull souls {
these cannibal monsters, as ever.
where.
e Donald felt somehow immensel
G elated at the thought. Even here the
Il were not cut off from the shelterir
IL hand Of Providence.
9 Look, sir" Clouts exclaimed su
denly.
; CTo BE CoNT1NUED.)