Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1924-06-06


/ Secretly MacBeard had known that
the carapaee which Masterman had
brought back from the North was not
that of stegosaurus. His attack upon
Masrerman had been inspired by envy
and hatred. He had examined the
relic, and admitted to himself that it
was that of an unknown deep-water
animal.
His respect for Masterman's abili-
ties increased tenfold.
He had begun spying upon the cap
tain. He broke into his house while
he was away and read his papers, with
out, however, learning anything of use
to him. Incidentally, he stole a gold
presentation watch, a Chinese vase Of
the Ming dynasty, and a pair of lapis-
lazuli earrings which had belonged to
Masterman's wife.
When MacBeard heard the first ru-
mors to the effect that Mastermans
ship had been wrecked, and that all
on board had persisted, he planned to
fit out a secret expedition to go to the
scene of the disaster and see what was
to be discovered. Then he had seen
the captain in the dining room Of the
club.
He had been thrown off his guard
by Masterman's unexpected return,
had followed him and Donald to the
door of the card room, and had heard
the greater part of the story. He had
been unable to restrain his eagerness, |
and had been detected spying.
Baked in his scheme to get posses
sion of Masterman's letter, he had fol
lowed Donald to the house in Balti-
more. There he had assaulted him
and taken the papers from him. He |
had had no intention Of killing DON
aid, whom he despised heartily. Once
the secret, in which he now firmly be-
lieved, was in his possession, there
would come no reckoning for the as
sault. He saw his way to immediate
rulership over the world.
To do MacBeard justice, he had been
scared away, not by fear of the mon
ster, but by the realization that Mas
terman's terrific story was true. After
Donald had left the house MacBeard
crept back. He discovered the mon
ster upon the floor, where it had pre-
cipitated itself in its death agony 1t
had been disrupted by the internal
pressure, under a normal atmosphere.
He made a quick examination of it,
sat down in the kitchen, and spent the
of the night porting over
papers. In these he
learned much that was essential to his
success.
He read that the creature in the
-ank was young one, which had not
yet acquired the power Of resistance
o an ordinary atmosphere. Nature
vas still in process of modifying her
,reation, and, as is always the case,
he young retained the atavistic dis
utilities, just as the young of flatfsh
win like other fishes and have one
we on either side of the head. The
in the physiological
tructure come with maturity.
The adult monsters, MacBeard !,
earned, had already acquired the abil- /
ty to exist for an indefinite period !
pom the surface of the sea. While
he young had gills, these became mod
fed into a species of lung, capable of !.
reathing both above and under wa !. :
er. This was a new adaptation of ma =
IRE. MacBeard hurried back to the =
cad monster, and found the lung al 7
eady partly formed. That satisfied ="
i'm that Masterman was an accurate :, =
bserver. -
The captain had spent weeks on the ~
land. He had put all the results of ~ ~
is investigations into his letter to y
onald. He described deliberately the -
ructure Of the monsters, tracing the :.
publications. of the gills, air bladders, ~
as and fippers. u
Lastly, he told Donald the secret
controlling them. And this was so ne
nazing that MacBeard almost doubt ga
it. In'
Unfortunately, two pages were miss ",
g, and these contained part of the WI
for keeping the monsters
subsection. And, what alarmed TO
acBeard, the manuscript ended with 49,
e statement that the irruption was !
It likely to prove of permanent in 'nl
ry to humanity, because
MacBeard cared little for NV
is in his supreme joy. His dreams SCI
ok definite shape at last, rushing into he
e concrete with a violence that sent Oe
N into an ecstasy. He saw the man lii
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