The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1917-10-13
CHAPTER IL.
In the March Hares, cIub-

sba shS al III a. 60 Os0Os
81 hope not, captain, answered
Donald.
I'm 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 1 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"
ga little" answered Donald. "We
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
coveries after the next few weeks.
You've heard about the known forms
of deep-sea life, haven't your"
Without waiting for a 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-
GOkened the pursuit of wandering sea
sscayengers. There were fishes that
carried their own lures in the form of
luminous tentacIes.
In the abysmal depths, in a realm
Of perpetual night, these organisms
perpetuated an inferno of slaughter,
preying upon each other, rowing on
their Unsuitable quest for food.
Masterman leaned forward and
spoke emphatically.
"When they are brought up-up
through three miles of water-they
explode mostly, Donald" he said. IF
they didn't-well, I've seen things that
would make a stout man faint, my
lad.
Paget shuddered as his mind con-
ceived the picture that the old cap
tain painted. He saw the giant mon
sters of the abyss lurking among the
yellow, carnivOrOus lilies that bend
and sway in league-lOng gardens,
catching the planktOn, the floating or
drifting organic life of the sea, that
comes down like finest meal from
above, but always ready for larger
prey.
Its murder enthroned, Donald"
said Masterman. There isn't love
not even maternal love. Nor pity,
either. Suppose our world were like
that!"
He was watching Donald keenly as
ne spoke.
I'VE take life as we find it." Lieu
tenant Paget answered. But, thank
heaven, life has its compensations,
which make it worth the living"
He was thinking of Ida Kennedy as
ne spoke.
But once our life was like that
persisted Masterman. "And we've
risen above it. Don't tell me there
isn't a God when we've done that
just as the beautiful birds evolved out
of vicious reptiles. You know, OF
course, our ancestors were sea crea-
lures. That's why the specific gray
ity Of the human body is about the
same as that of salt water. We were
made to live in the sea. We come
from fishes. You believe that?"
Eyes, science tells US so.''
GOOD. Now you've studied a
school what I've only read in books
but you know that there was a time
when the seas were warm, steamins
baths. and the steam formed clouds
so that the sun had never been seen
Before the sun appeared, the work.
was just diffused light and darkness
There's an answer TO your Bible crit
ics who say Genesis is all wrong, be
cause it says light was made befor,
the SUM- Light did exist, before tn,
sun was dreamed CT. SO far as man il
concerned.
you're right, sir" answered Don