The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1918-01-17
CHAPTER x.-contInued.

stone.
1t rested behind the mound. on a Nat
rock about the size Of a large table,
and IL tapered In thickness from that
ef a sharp razor, at the curvlng edge,
to that OF a jeckknife blade at the
base. 1t was perhaps two feet In d.
ameter.
whats the matter. Clouts?' asked
Donald, seeing the expression upon the
sailors face.
Don't you know what that is, sirT
volunteered Clouts huskils sits e
sacrlfcial stone, sir. / saw m 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, Donaldf'
SsSed 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
81 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 a sound
of immense volume. Travelling four
times as fast through the water vapor
as through the air, 1t seemed to re-
vertebrate under the cloudy roof for an
Unreasonable time. sending forth reso-
nant echoes. II 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 filed with the
devil men Donald had just time to
catch Ida to Ahim when they were
pushed backward behind the mound,
and ringed with phosphorescent fire.
The atmosphere seemed to have be-
come filed with tense and resilient
rubber.
J The hall was crammed with the glob-
ular shapes of the monsters. that glid-
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 a musical
tlnkle, 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.
I'VE know each other, I Think" said
MacBeard. with suave irony.
"What do you propose?' inquired
Dcnnid.
II don't quite know answered the
professor thoughtfully. "You see, /
never took you into consideration at
all. You are, so to say, the fly on the
wheel. As a part OF the human race.
you should meet the fate In store for
the race"
"You make me SICK" said Donald.
MacBeard looked rather angry.
"You can have your life for the
present" he returned, hut not as a
permanent gift. I shall not single you
out to bestow on you the boon OF con-
Timing that constant adjustment to
external forces which Herbert Spencer
has named life IN ether words, you
a go TO the devil until I am ready
IN take Won In hand again. on one
condition"
Name it, you Backyard" said
Donald.
* want the two missing pages of
Masterman's manuscript"
'fTake us all back to the submarine
out &C this helps kitchen of yours.
then show us the way 20 the top OF
the island, and you shall have all the
rest Of the papers"
MacBeard eyed Donald with amuse-
ment. Il offered you your life. not the
Others" he answered. zone man re-
turning with a story like Masterman's
would be. called a lunatic: two would
awaken doubt three would be fatal
And then his eyes fell upon Ida.
She was standing at Donald's side.
os 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-
tirely incredible.
He fell In love for the FIRST time in
his life.
Science has succeeded In pene-
trating the mystery Of love. 1t Is not
known why one man falls In love at
fifty ana another at nineteen: one at
sight and another after i've 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 1t had happened.
And with 1t there came the universal
instinct to display his superiority to
the man at zda's side, in whom he
Intuiftyely sens1d HIS rival.
tYou'v8 played your cas4. yretty
<5affs7=Ef77 xzs1arcds xsss s
rret . you& handa. and ycu surtSo-
1cred Il 70 ne. Yop think Z little more
highly a. ia f5nstesman aox. don't