Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1925-06-12

known to modern life"
How did you know this7" she asked
sharply.
Parmalee was quite nonchalant; he
said, you forget that my library is
full Of documents and books and mono
graphs which your father asked per-
mission to consult l am sorry did
not meet your father"
you would have found him a man
quite incapable of believing in the SUI
pernatural whether it be a thing of
today or attributed to an ancient peo-
ple."
He thrust glance at her. "You
speak with some heat" he said.
II suppose so," Brena answered. 'Tt
Is because have no patience with I'M
realities"
you would say more?' he asked,
with his uncanny ability to read her
thought.
Eyes. think that you have some
purpose in creating this atmosphere Of
/ strange and unreal things"
He started to speak, stopped him
self and after a long pause exclaimed
sharply, II agree with you.'
They rode on toward Cherbourg
without speaking, but now and then
glancing up as If each weighed the
motives and challenged the other.
You spoke of piece of paper given
to you in roll of bills" he said at
last, with marked absence of his
! nC1IQI ortf
| You saved it
Brena drew back as if the subject
were odious. She said, with unwonted
sharpness, Il have cause to remember.
You are always speaking"
i've spoken of it only twice." he
said "This time T."
He appeared frightened.
Il think you said there was draw
ing of an arrow and lizard"
Brena, regretting her moment of
temper, said, 81 said lizard. don't
see what difference it makes 1t wasn't
exactly lizard
With great promptness he thrust
toward her an envelope and pencil.
"Draw it," he said.
II told you l had almost forgotten"
the girl replied. II lost the scrap
the figures and the words"
DRAW it," he repeated, "the best
you can"
Brena looked out Of the car window
at the flashes of green and gray of
farms and farm buildings as If she
were searching in her memory for
| Photographic impress. Then suddenly,
with the quick precision that gave her
| hand and mind SO many undeveloped
talents, she outlined strange figure
on paper.
Parmalee snatched it eagerly and
stared; he saw figure, half snake
and half bird.
"That7" said he in voice which
sounded muffled. 'WeIl, do you know
what it is?'
/ Brena raised the arch Of her brows
ut is the Kuk-ul-can," said Parma
lee.
"The Kuk-ul-can," she said, repeat
ing it.
1.-THE symbol Of the Mayan-the Az
tee culture. The supreme object of
reverence. The fools who go about
the Southwest driving their oil wells
and laying their railroad ties and eat
ing their prepared breakfast foods for
get that this symbol is to be found
among the present-day Zuni and other
Pueblo tribes, the degenerate fringes
of a civilization which flourished be-
fore Rome was sucked by wolf
They forget that a thousand years ago
it was carved on rude adobe walls in
memory of a lost grandeur and lost
practices, dead thDse six thousand
! years."
Brena possessed two laughs, both
quite natural and sincere And now
it was her merry Irish laugh. what
of all this?" said she. Il will blush
for their ignorance, but what more
than that can l do on a sunny Thurs
day2 l am not interested old fellow,
in that which is dead. T."
She stopped suddenly, sobered by
recollection.
1.-THE Kuk-ul-can," said Parmalee.
you've never seen that scrap of pa
per again, have your"
This was the last time he ever spoke
of it.