Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-08
CHAPTER NNNu-(ContinucD

| E1OR more than an hour hc pondrred the
! l. question. now uE,uE question: or NC
| patriarch seemed torn between de'fc
| to have the woudcr-thinE brought Up ana
! fear lest he should loso the strangers
| now designing Erapplcs now formulating
n definite line of procedure,
At last. all things settled in his mind, he
| hado the old man get Cor him ton strong
| ropes such as the largest nets were nnde
| OF. These ropes. which he had already seen
| CoIled in huge masses along the wall at Tn"
! northern end of the village whore they were
| twisted Of the tough weed fiber, averaged
| all of zoo fcct in length when the patriarch
| had gone 10 SEQ about having thcm brought
| to the hut he himself went across the plaza,
with Beatrice, TO tho communal smithy'
There he appropriated forge hammers
and a quantity Of iron bars and oncrgct-
ically set to work fashiouing hugo three
prongcd hook.
Now" said he to Beatrice. as no sur
vcyed tho finished product. while all about
them the inqulsItve yet silent Folk watched
them by the unsteady light. nov | guess
we're ready TO get down TO something prac-
teal. Just as soon as this Internal rain
let's up bit we'll go angling for the biggest
fish that ever came out of this sea -
But the storm was very far from being at
an end Tho patriarch told Stern when he
brought the grapplc to the hUt-tollowcd
by a silent, all-ubservant Crowd-that some.
times these torrential downpours lasted from
three TO ten sleep-times, with lulls between,
And nobody can venture on the sea" he
added, TIN wo know-by certain signs We
havc-that the great rain Is verify Mt m
end. TO do that would mean to court DEATH
and we are Wise, from very long experience.
SO, my SON YOU must have patience in this
as in all things and wait.'
Part Of that afternoon of forced inactlv.
ity Stern spent in his favOrite habit OF
going about among tho Folk, closely ming
ling with them and watching an their in
dustrial processes and social life. and try
ing, as usual to pick up words and phrases
of the far-dcgenerated speech that once had
been English but was now grummaress
and formess jumble OF strange words.
Tho entire construction was altered the
language now bore no more resemblance To
English than English had borne to the prim-
itive lndo-Germanc Of the Aryan fore
fathers. Now that writing had been lost
nothing retarded changes and Stern real
lied that hcre-wero he trained philoln-
gist--lay a task iucompaUlbly Interesting
and difficult, to learn this McruCaun speech
and trace It's development from his own
tongue.
His attempts to learn and to talk with
these people-by pointing at objects and lis
tenlng 10 their names-were comparable to
those, perhaps, OF a prehistoric Goth turned
loose in an American village of the tyyeu-
tieth century. only the patriarch had re-
tained the mother tongue. and that i'm an
archaic imperfect manner so that oven his
explanations often failed. stern fcIt the
battling difficulties i'm his way; but his de-
termination only grew.
The rain steadily continued 10 drum
down, now lesscnod, now again I'm terrific
deuges Of solid black water churued to
white as they struck the sea and flung
the frOth on high. The two Americans
passed an hour that afternoon In tho old
mans hut, drawing up n calendar on which
10 check as accurately as possible the
passage OF time as reckoned in the terms
OF life upon the surface
They scratched this on n slab Of slate
Ike rock with sharp iron awl; and,
reckoning the present day as about Octobe.
first, agreed that every waking tlma they
would cross off one square
For" said the engineer ITS most inn
portant that we should keep track Of the |
seasons up above. That may have much |
70 do with our attempts to transplant this |
colony. IL would never do TO take a people |
like this, accustomed 10 heat and yap0r
and carry them out into even tho mild |
winter that now prevails I'm a present-day |
December. II we don't get them 10 the |
surface before the last Of this month. at
Wen have to wait until another SPRING.
asked she.
Looks that way" he assented, putting |
a few final touches 10 the calendar $50 !
you see it's up to us 10 hurry-uud ccr- |
devilish rain could possibly have happened /
Haste, haste We must make haste 90
That's so" exclaimed Beatrice Every
days precious, now. We
My children" hurredly interrupted the |
patriarch, II never yet have shown you |
my bnoll-my one and greatest treasure |
The book
You have told me many things. of sun |
and moon and stars, which are mocked at as
idle tales by my unbelieying people; Of |
continents and seas, mountains, vast cities, |
great ships, strange engines moved by yapOr |
and by lightning, tall houses; of words |
thrown along metal threads or even through |
the air itself Of great nations and wars Of |
a hundred wondrous matters that verify /
have passed away even from the remotest |
memories Of us I'm the Abyss!
But Of our history / have told you little; ; |
nor have you seen the book Yet YOU |
must see Il, for II alone remains to us Of /
that other, better time. And though my /
folk mock al il as impOsture and myth and |
fraud, you shall judge II it be true you |
shall see what has kept the English speech |
alive in me, Kept memories of the upper /
world alive. only the book. the book ="
His voice seemed strangely agltated. As /
he spoke he raised his hand toward them. /
sitting on the stone bench In the hut while /
outside the rain stir thundered louder than /
the droning roar Of the great fame stern. 1
his curiosity suddenly aroused. looked at /
the old man with keen interest.
The book?' he Queried. what book7