The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1917-11-15
CHAPTER u.
In the March Hares' Club.

81 hope not, captain" answered
Donald.
"Tm afraid there isn't any doubt Of
It." answered Masterman. "It's an
old organic trouble, likely to carry me
Off at any time, and progressive in
character. Before l left for the Shet-
lands, the doctor gave me year.
That was ten months ago, and my
experiences haven't heightened the
respite. You've followed deep-sea ex-
ploration, haven't your
"a llttle," answered Donald. I'VE
Americans seem to have taken the
lead since the days of the Challenger" )"
"Yes, Yankees have done good
work." said Masterman. But I've got
them all beaten now. Nobody will
bother his head about the earlier dis
coverles after the next few weeks.
You've heard about the known forms
Of deep-sea life, haven't your
Without waiting for reply, he be-
gan to speak about the strange or
ganisms that had been dredged from
the ocean bottom, so that Donald saw
the whole picture In Masterman's
brain. He saw the eyeless fishes that
had abandoned the effort to see, and
fishes with eyes as large as dinner
plates, with which they caught the
CLEANS of phosphorescence that be-
tokened the pursuit of wandering sea
scavengers. There were fishes that
carried their own lures in the form OF
luminous tentacles.
In the abysmal depths, in realm
of perpetual night, these organisms
perpauated an inferno of slaughter
preying upon each other, rowing oil
their Unsuitable quest for food.
Masterman leaned forward ant
spoke emphatlcally.
"When they are brought up-uI
through three miles of water-they
explode mostly, Donald" he said. II
they dldn't--well, I've seen things tha
would make stout man faint, my
lad"
Paget shuddered as his mind con
ceived the picture that the old cap
tain painted. lie saw the giant mon
sters of the abyss lurking among th'
yellow, carnivorous lilies that bent
and sway in league-long gardens
catching the plankton, the floating o.
drifting organic life of the sea, tina
comes down like finest meal from
above, but always ready for large
prey.
"It's murder enthroned, Donald,
said Masterman. "There isn't love
not even maternal love. Nor pity
either. Suppose our world were lik
thatw
He was watching Donald keenly a
he spoke.
ave take life as we find It," Lieu
tenant Paget answered. "But, than
heaven, life has It's compensatlons
WHICH make 1t worth the living"
lie was thinking of Ida Kennedy a
he spoke.
"But once our life was like that,
persisted Masterman. "And Te'v
risen above 1t. Don't tell me ther
isn't a God when we've done tina
lust as the beautiful birds evolved ou
of vicious reptiles. You know, Q
course, our ancestors were sea cref
lures. That's why the specific gray
ity of the human body is about tn
same as that of salt water. We wer
made to live in the sea. We com
from fishes. You believe thatf"
Eyes, science tells us So"
Good. Now you've studied &
school what I've only read in book
but you know that there was tim
when the seas were warm, steamin
baths, and the steam formed cloud
so that the sun had never been seel
Before the sun appeared, the worl
was Just diffused light and darkness
There's an answer to your Bible cri
les who say Genesis is all wrong, b
cause It says light was made befol
the sun. Light did exist, before Il
sun was dreamed Of, SO far as man
concerned.
you're right. sir" answared Do