Middletown transcript. [volume] (Middletown, Del.) 1868-current, 1918-01-26
CHAPTER x.-continued.

He pointed behind the mound, and,
following his gaze, Donald and Davies
saw something like sun-dial, made OF
q large bone whetted to razor fineneSs,
and somewhat resembling q grind
stone.
It rested behind the mound. on a fiat
rock shout the size Of a large table,
and !. sapered In thickness from that
of q xissrp razor, at the c.rving edge,
to tl,st Of Q jackknife blade at the
base. Il WAS perhaps two feet in d.
ametef.
"What's the matter. Cloursr' asked
Donald. seeing the expression upon the
sailors face.
"Don't you know what that is, sir?"
volunteered Clouts huskily. "It's a
sacriflcial stone, sir. 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
uent what sunk beneath the waves,
SIR"
"Do you see how it works, Donald?"
asked Davies. "These beasts can't
lift things. Of course they can't lift
under the pressure of miles of sea, and
so they have no lifting muscles. And
so they push instead. 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 sound
Of immense volume. Travelling four
times as fast through the water vapor
as through the air, it seemed to re-
vertebrate under the cloudy roof for an
Unreasonable time, sending forth reso-
nant echoes. It was totally unlike the
sound that they had heard before, and
yet equally clear and beautiful.
The response was astonishing. In
simultaneously, as it 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 ringed 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 well-trodden Ooze. And
from the midst Of them MacBeard
stepped out. He touched the thing he
wore about his neck, and 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
q limited space.
eve know each other, Think" said
MacBeard, with suave irony.
'What do you proposes" inquired
Donald.
Il don't quite know" answered the
professor thoughtfully. "You see, l
never took you into consideration at
all. You are, SO to say, the fly on the
wheel. As part of the human race,
you should meet the fate in store for
the race"
1Ou IllUkc liIc SICh. Sdlu AOAdAus
MacBeard looked rather angry.
"You can have your life for the
present" he returned, "but not as a
permanent gift. shall not single you
out to bestow on you the boon Of con-
tinuing that constant adjustment to
external forces which Herbert Spencer
has named life In other words, you
can 60 to the devil until 1 am ready
to take you in hand again, on one
condition"
Shame it, you blackguard," said
Donald.
Il want the two missing pages of
Masterman's manuscript"
"Take us all back to the submarine
out of this hell's kitchen of yours, I.
then show us the way to the top of
the island, and you shall have all the
rest of the papers"
MacBeard eyed Donald with amuse-
ment. II offered you your life, not the
Others" he answered. Zone man re-
turning with story like Masterman's
would be called lunatic; two would
awaken doubt; three would be fatal"
And then his eyes fell upon Ida.
She was standing at DoEald's side,
as brave and defiant as he, and their
eyes met. And at that instant some
thing happened to the professor that
upset all his calculations, something at
which he would have scoffed as en-
hrely incredible.
NJ po11 q, lnx,o f0v. thu 3,.u< <;rn0 In
his life.
Science has never succeeded in pene-
trating the mystery of love. It Is not
known why one man falls in love at
fifty and another at nineteen; one at
sight and another after five years Of
matinees and supper parties with the
object Of his alteration. MacBeard did
not know why it had happened to him,
but he knew that it had happened.
And with it there came the universal |
instinct to display his superiority to |
the man at Ida's side, in whom he |
lntuitively sensed his rival.
"YOu've played your cards pretty |
badly" he sneered. "You had the Sc
cret in your hands. and you surren-
dered it to me. You think little more |
highly of old Masterman now, don't |
your?
"You blackguard!" cried Donald
again, clenching his fists.
MacBeard stepped out of range has
tily. He disliked violence. partly as
an attempted violation of the principle
of the conservation Of energy, but
principally because he was a coward.
ut is all our lives for the missing
part Of the manuscript, or none," said
Donald.