Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-10-18

a rough pile of bones, but high above
them grinning human face, made o.
the same plastered mud, looked down
process among the monsters. anC
some devil craftsman had contrfvet
to catch, not so much the form as the
humanness of it.
1t was upon larger scale, precisely
such a figure as child or a savage
might have made in it's first efforts t.
reproduce the human figure. There
We're 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 one of the bones
and looked at it intently.
Donald" 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 it. 1t was the bone
Of Il fiipper heel The, monsters were
cannibal, beyond any doubt.
Davies" cried Donald moment
later. Don't you see what that figure
is? It's an idol. And the bones are
those Of creatures of their own spe
cies, and others, sacrificed to It by the
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 interpre-
tation. They looked at each other in
horror and something Of awe.
The thing had been fashioned, per-
haps, after an Ideal never seen, or per-
chance some forgotten ancestor cast
up ON an inhabited shore, had seen
man and returned, to embody him in
his emembered guise.
So these haIf-blind and voiceless
devils Of the sea were cropping slowly
upward, as our ancestors had done
many a hundred thousand years ago.
toward hope and endeavor. The Spirit
Of God stirred in the dull souls of
these canntbal monsters, as every
where.
Donald felt somehow Immensely
elated at the thought. Even here they
were not cut of from the sheltering
hand of Providence.
Look, sir" Clouts exclaimed sud
denly.
He pointed behind the mound, and,
following his gaze, Donald and Davies
saw something like q sun-dial, made Of
a large bone whetted to razor f1neness,
and somewhat resembling grind
stone.
1t rested behind the mound, on a fiat
rock about the size of large table,
md 1t tapered in thickness from that
OF sharp razor, at the curving edge,
to that OF tackknife blade at the
base. 1t was perhaps two feet in d.
ameter.
whats the matter. CloutsT asked
Donald seeing the expression upon the
sailors face.
Don't you know what that Is, sir?"
volunteered Clouts huskny. ITS a
sacrffeial stone, sir. l saw one OF
them In the museum at Acatalpec, in
British Honduras, once, sir. They said
the Mayas used them, and that they
learned about them from the priests
that had them in Atlantis, the CONT
nent what sunk beneath the waves,
SIR"
do you see how 1t works, Donald?"
asked Davies. These beasts can't
lift things. OF course they can't lift
under the pressure of miles of sea, and
20 they have no lifting muscles. And
so they push snstead. They push their
victims down upon the stone"
That was as far as he had explained
when Donald touched the edge of the
blade with his thumbnail The flexible
bone twanged, sending forth q sound
OF immense volume. Travelling four
times as fast through the water yapor
as through the air, 1t seemed 60 re-
vertebrate under the cloudy roof for an
nant echoes. 1t was totally unlike the
sound that they had heard before, and
yet equally clear and beautiful.
The response WAS astonishing. In
simultaneously, as 1t seemed, the inte-
rior OF the temple was filled with the
devil men. Donald had just time to
catch Ida to him when they were
pushed backward behind the mound,
and rfnged with phosphorescent fire.
The atmosphere seemed to have be-
come filled with tense and resilient
rubber.
The hall was crammed with the glob-
ular shapes Of the monsters. that GID
ed over the weli-trodden ooze. And
from the midst Of them MacBeard
stepped out. he touched the thing he
wore about his neck, and a musical
tinkle, which followed. produced an In
slant cessation of all movement. The
ring of fire had slightly widened; the
prisoners were able TO move within
a limited space.
1--WE know eaeh other / think" said
MacBeard, with suave irony.
what do you proposes? inquired
Donald.
81 don't quite know" answered the
professor thoughtfuliy. "You see,
never took you into consideration al