Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1926-01-15

In the great city. For the remainder
of the year he anchored his floating
workshop when and where he pleased
In either place, men of science visited
him cheerfully; but the casual person
usually came but once and departed
for good. Thus did this man follow his
bent and his business. Slim and active,
with nerves and muscles tough like
hickory fiber, 1t may truthfully be said
Of him that he feared neither the lIv-
ing nor the dead.
So the "Crab" and the "Blinker'
sought for an overhanging tree and did
not find 1t; but in its stead they dis
covered tall young willow which
could be bent to their purpose. Hand
over hand the long man crossed first,
and hand over hand the short man fol-
lowed in his wake.
In the cabin, by the light of his
hooded forge. the articulator was tenn
pering a delicate spring. His forge
was also his stove, and thereby he not
only fashioned his tools and attach
ments, but over the glowing fire of
coke, boiled his kettle for tea or
grllled for himself a steak.
There, had anyone looked in, might
have been seen the bony structure of n
great serpent, coiled to strike; of
wild swan, with Its twenty-eight re-
markable vertebrate between the skull
and the sacrum; of a crocodile, with
section of the brain case lined to
show cavity for the brain, so small
that 1t would hardly admit the thumb
Of child; of man, exactly erect and
balanced, the majestic line of the cen
ter of gravity indicated by silver
wire-these, and dozen others might
have been seen, all white, clean, pol
ished and accurately poised.
On the door of the cabin sounded an
ominous knock; insolent, aggressive.
The artlculator looked up quickly.
His boat was out from the shore; he
had heard nothing, and even small
skiff must make some noise In coming
about: hence that knock. neither civil
nor timld, indicated covert purpose
boldly unmasked. Already the knob
was turning, and the door was not
locked!
He set his foot on the pedal of his
bellows and said-"Come ini'
Yet 1t should be here said that the
Man Of the Ark did not choose to live
entirely alone. He kept for company
two black cats. To one OF these, not
bigger than ordinary, he gave the
name Of Nox; to the other, the name
of Astarte; and this Astarte, strange
as 1t may seem, was as large as
mastlff. A scientific association had
sent the artlculator on a special mis-
Sion to southern Asia, and there In a
native family, he found a pair of leop-
ards In domestication, and, in litter
Of cubs, one that was perfectly black
in the shade, but which exhibited the
pattern of the others in the sunlight,
and he purchased this sport as a pet
and companion. And the black leopard
grew to be strong and beautiful, and
affectionate, and jealous, and exceed
ingly distrustful Of every man except
her master She was blessed with the
traits Of the powerful goddess Of
Syria after whom she was named.
Also, in her proper self, she was MIN
Bile and vigilant
The dog comes forth boldly and an
nounces his suspicious, the cat con
ceals Itself at once, and watches Its
prey or enemy from some secret point
of vantage. When Astarte had doubts
she disguised herself as a shadow, and
closed the lids of her jewel-like eyes
to the merest Sits; but the measure of
her dlstrust was revealed In the pro-
lection. Of her ebony claws, curved like
a hawks beak and fully as large. And
to Astarte, as becoming to her change
able beauty the master gave neck
lace of flashing paste pendants; and to
Nox, In equally appropriate keeping,
he gave two eardrops which resembled
bright, prlsmatic stars.
The slumberlng coke, aroused by the
blast, threw rudy glare upon the
faces of the "Crab' ard the "Bllnker"
as they opened the door.
At a glance the articulator placed
them in the class Of animals to which
they belonged. But the manner Of man
he might be they could not know; for
he stood In the shadow cast by the
hood Of the forge
Yet OF the other things In the red
light the lntruders saw enough to Ak
their trlpartite vision--the bOny struc-
lures Of the swan, the man, the SER
pent, and the crocodile, these they be-
held, and others; and on broad
bench In the furnace glow small
black cat, her eartips flashing sparks
Of rhinestone frel For minute their
gaze shifted from the black cat to the
silent man, then to the skeletons, and
then back to the cat again. But In
that moment what frlghtful change
had come The little cat had grown to
a monstrous shape!
Not for a single instant did they stop
to stare at the motlonless mute by the
roaring forge, at the dreadful cat and
the white and gllstening skeletons
all objects to them Of that neither
world Of late 80 loudly proclaimed -
but with speed they leaped to the side
Of the boat and slid off into the cold
out-fowlng tidel
In the doorway so quickly vacated
stood the artlculator, and upon his fea-
lures was the smile Of the scientific
humorist.
"Of a surety" quoth he, the unen-
llghtened wretches mlstook this stream
for the Styx in Hades, and my ark
for the Boat Of Charon, who was the
Son Of Darkness and Nephew of
Nightw
Oh, certainly, science has her laugh
although tribe grim
MAY