6
THE MAKER
OF MOONS i
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I ROBERT W. CHAMBERS |
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112 Illustrations by J. J. Sheridan %
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(Copyright, O. I'. Putnam's Sons.)
SYNOPSIS.
The story opens in New York, Roy Car
denhue. the story-teller, inspecting a queer
reptile owned by George Godfrey of Tif
fany's. Itoy, and Barris and Plerpont,
two friends, depart on a hunting trip to
Cardinal Woods, a rather obscure local
ity. Barris revealed the fact that he had
joined the secret service for the purpose
nf running down a gang of gold makers,
t'rof. I«aG range, on discovering the
gang's formula, had been mysteriously
killed.
CHAPTER 11.
We had been at the shooting box in
the Cardinal Woods five days when a
telegram was brought to Harris by a
mounted messenger from the nearest
telegraph station, Cardinal Springs,
a hamlet on the lumber railroad which
joins the Quebec & Northern at Three j
Rivers Junction, 30 miles below.
Pierpont and I were sitting out un
der the trees, loading some special
shells as experiment; Harris stood be-j
side us, bronzed, erect, holding his!
pipe carefully so that no sparks should J
drift into our powder box. The beat!
of hoofs over the grass aroused us, |
and when the lank messenger drew i
bridle before the door Barris stepped j
forward and took the sealed telegram. |
When he had torn it open he went into
the house and presently reappeared,
reading something that he had writ
ten.
"This should go at once," he said,
looking the messenger full in the face.
"At once, Col. Harris," replied the
shabby countryman.
Pierpont glanced up and I smiled at
the messenger, who was gathering his
bridle and settling himself in his stir
rups. Harris handed him the written
reply and nodded good-by; there was
a thud of hoofs on the greensward, a
jingle of bit and spur across the gravel
and the messenger was gone. Harris'
pipe went out and he stepped to wind
ward to relight it.
"It is queer," said I, "that your mes
senger—a battered native —should
speak like a Harvard man."
"He is a Harvard man," said Harris.
"And the plot thickens," said Pier
pont; "are the Cardinal woods full of
your secret service men, Barris?"
"No," replied Harris, "but the tele
graph stations are. How many ounces
of shot are you using, Roy?"
1 told him, holding up the adjust
able steel-measuring cup. He nodded.
After a moment or two he sat down
on a campstool beside us and picked
up a crimper.
"That telegram was from Drum
mond," he said; "the messenger was
one of my men, as you two bright lit
tle boys divined. Pooh! If he had
spoken the Cardinal county dialect
you wouldn't have known."
"His make-up was good," said Pier
pont.
Harris twirled the crimper and
looked at the pile of loaded shells.
Then he picked up one and crimped it.
"Let 'em alone," said Pierpont;
"you crimp too tight."
"Does his little gun kick when the
shells are crimped too tight?" in
quired Barris tenderly; "well, ho shall
crimp his own shells then—whefe's
his little man?"
"His little man"was a weird Eng
lish importation, stiff, very carefully
scrubbed, tangled in his aspirates,
named Howlett. As valet, gilly, gun
bearer and crimper he aided Pierpont
to endure the ennui of existence by
doing for hint everything except
breathing. Lately, however, Harris'
taunts had driven Pierpont to do a few
thiags for himself. To his astonish
ment he found that cleaning his own
gun was not a bore, so he timidly
loaded a shell or two, was much
pleased with himself, loaded some
more, crimped them and went to
breakfast with an appetite. So when
Harris asked where "his little man"
was, Pierpont did not reply, but dug a
cupful of shot from the bag and poured
it solemnly into the half-filled shell.
Old David came out with the dogs,
and of course there was a pow-wow
when Voyou, my Gordon, wagged his
splendid tail across the loading table
and sent a dozen unstopped cartridges
rolling over the grass, vomiting pow
der and shot.
"Give the dogs a mile or two," said
I; "we will shoot over the Sweet Pern
Covert about four o'clock, David."
"Two guns, David," added Harris,
"Are you not going?" asked Pier
pont, looking up, as David disappeared
with the dogs.
"Higger game," said Harris, shortly.
He picked up a mug of ale from the
tray which Howlett had just, set down
beside us and took a long pull. We
.did the same, silently. Pierpont set
his mug on the turf beside him and
returned to his loading.
We spoke of the murder of Prof. La
Grange, of how it had been concealed
by the authorities in New York at
Drummond'a request, of the certainty
who had done it, and of the possible
alertness of the gang.
"Oh, they know that Drummond will
be after them sooner or later," said
Barris; "but they don't know that the
mills of the gods have already begun
to grind. Those smart New York pa
pers builded better than they knew
when their ferret-eyed reporter poked
his red nose into the house on Fifty
eighth street and sneaked off with a
column on his cuffs about the 'suicide'
of Prof. La Grange. Hilly Pierpont,
my revolver is hanging in your room;
I'll take yours too —"
"Help yourself," said Pierpont.
"I shall be gone over night," con
tinued Harris; "my poncho and some
bread and meat are all I shall take
except the 'barkers.'"
"Will they bark to-night?" I asked.
"No, I trust not for several weeks
yet. I shall nose about a bit. Roy,
did It ever strike you how queer it is
that this wonderfully beautiful country
should contain no inhabitants?"
"It's like those splendid stretches
of pools and rapids which one finds
on every trout river and in which
one never finds a flsh," suggested Pier
pont.
"Exactly—and heaven alone knows
why," said Harris; "I suppose this
country is shunned by human beings
for the same mysterious reasons."
"The shooting is the better for it,"
I observed.
"The shooting is good," said Barris;
"have you noticed the snipe on the
meadow by the lake? Why, it's
brown with them! That's a wonder
ful meadow."
"It's a natural one," said Pierpont;
"no human being ever cleared that
land."
"Then it's supernatural," said Har
ris; "Pierpont, do you want to come
with me?"
Pierpont's handsome face flushed as
he answered slowly: "It's awfully
good of you—if I may."
"Bosh," said I piqued because he
had asked Pierpont; "what use is lit
tle Willy without his man?"
"True," said Barris, gravely; "you
can't take Homlett, you know."
Pierpont muttered something which
ended in "d —n."
"Then," said I, "there will be but
one gun on the Sweet Fern Covert
this afternoon. Very well, I wish you
joy of your cold supper and colder
"A Telegram Was Brought to Barris
by a Mounted Messenger."
bod. Take your night-gown, Willy,
and don't sleep on the damp ground."
"Let Pierpont alone," restorted Bar
ris; "you shall go next time, Roy."
"Oh, all right—you mean when
there's shooting going on?"
"And I?" demanded Pierpont,
grieved.
"You too, my son; stop quarreling!
Will you ask Howlett to pack our kits
—lightly, mind you—no bottles—they
clink."
"My flask doesn't," said Pierpont,
and went off to get ready for a night's
stalking of dangerous men.
"It is strange," said I, "that nobody
ever settles in tills region. How many
people live in Cardinal Springs, Bar
ris?"
"Twenty, counting the telegraph
operator and not counting the lumber
men; they are always changing and
shifting. I have six men among them."
"Where have you no men? In the
Four Hundred?"
"I have men there also —chums of
Rilly's, only he doesn't know it.
David tells me that there was a strong
flight of woodcocks last night. You
ought to pick up some this afternoon."
Then we chatted about alder-cover
and swamp until Pierpont came out of
the house and it was time to part.
"Au revoir," said Barris, buckling
on his kit; "come along, Pierpont, and
don't walk in the damp grass."
"If you are not back by to-morrow
noon," said I, "I will take Howlett
and David and hunt you up. You say
your course is due north-?"
"Due north," replied Harris, consult
ing his compass.
"There is a trail for two miles and
a spotted lead for two more," said
Pierpont.
"Which we won't use for various
reasons," added Harris pleasantly;
"don't worry, Roy, and keep your con
founded expedition out of the way;
there's no danger."
He knew, of course, what he was
talking about, and I held my peace.
When the tip end of Pierpont's
shooting coat had disappeared in the
Long Covert I found myself standing
alone with Howlett. He bore my gaze
for a moment and then politely low
ered his eyes.
"Howlett,'' said I, "taKe these shells
and implements to the gun room, and
drop nothing. Did Voyou come to any
harm in the briers this morning?"
"No 'arm, Mr. Cardenhe, sir," said
I Howlett.
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1909.
"Then be careful not to drop ■ay
thing else," said I, and walked away
leaving him decorously puzzled. For
he had dropped no cartridges. P»or
Howlett!
CHAPTER 111.
About four o'clock that afternoon I
met David and the dogs at the spinney
which leads into the Sweet Fern
Covert. The three setters, Voyou,
Gamin and Mioche were in fine feath
er—David had killed a woodcock and
a brace of grouse over them that
morning—and they were thrashing
about the spinney at short range when
I came up, gun under arm and pipo
lighted.
"What's the prospect, David," I
asked, trying to keep my feet in the
tangle of wagging, whining dogs;
"hello, what's amiss with Mioche?"
"A brier in his foot, sir; i drew It
and stopped the wound, but I guess
the gravel's got in. If you have no ob
jection, sir, I might take him back
with me."
"It's safer," I said; "take Gamin,
too; I only want one dog this after
noon. What is the situation?"
"Fair, sir; the grouse lie within a
quarter of a mile of the oak second
growth. The woodcock are mostly on
the alders. I saw any number of snipe
on the meadows. There's something
else in by the lake—l can't just tell
what, but the wood-duck set up a clat
ter when I was in the thicket and they
come dashing through the wood as if
a dozen foxes was snappin' at their
tail feathers."
"Probably a fox," I said; "leash
those dogs—they must learn to stand
it. I'll be back by dinner time."
"There is one more thing, sir," said
David, lingering with his gun under
his arm.
"Well," said I.
"I saw a man in the woods by the
Oak Covert—at least I think I did."
"A lumberman?"
"I think not, sir—at least—do they
have Chinamen among them?"
"Chinese? No. You didn't see a
Chinaman in the woods "here ?"
"I—l think I did, sir—l can't say
positively. He was gone when Iran
into the covert."
"Did the dogs notice it?"
"I can't say—exactly. They acted
queer like. Gamin here lay down an'
whined—it may have been colic—and
Mioche whimpered—perhaps it was
the brier."
"And Voyou?"
"Voyou, he was most remarkable, sir,
and the hair on his back stood up. I
did see a groundhog makin' for a
tree near by."
"Then no wonder Voyou bristled.
David, your Chinaman was a stump
or tussock. Take the dogs now."
"I guess It was, sir; good afternoon,
sir," said David, and walked away with
the Gordons leaving me alone with
Voyou in the spinney.
I looked at the dog and he looked
at me.
"Voyou!"
The dog sat down and danced with
his fore feet, his beautiful brown eyes
sparkling.
"You're a fraud," I said; "which
shall it be, the alders or the upland?
Upland? Good!—now for the grouse
—heel, my friend, and show your
miraculous self-restraint."
Voyou wheeled into my tracks and
followed close, nobly refusing to no
tice the impudent chipmunks and the
thousand and one alluring and import
ant smells which an ordinary dog
would have lost no time in investigat
ing.
The brown and yellow autumn
woods were crisp with drifting heaps
of leaves and twigs that crackled un
der foot as we turned from the spin
ney into the forest. Every silent lit
tle stream, hurrying toward the lake
was gay with painted leaves afloat,
scarlet maple or yellow oak. Spot 3
of sunlight fell upon the pools, search
ing the brown depths, illuminating
the gravel bottom where shoals of
minnows swam to and fro, and to and
fro again, busy with the purpose of
their little lives. The crickets were
chirping in the long brittle grass on
the edge of the woods, but we left
them far behind in the silence of the
deeper forest.
"Now!" said I to Voyou.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
NOTE HAD PERSONAL FLAVOR.
Directions Considerably Astonished
Good Man in Pulpit.
The minister had just finished a lit
tle opening talk to the children, pre
paratory to the morning service, when
Mrs. Berkeley suddenly realized, with
all the agony of a careful housewife,
that she had forgotten to turn the gas
off from the oven in which she had
left a nicely-cooked roast, all ready
for the final reheating. Visions of a
ruined dinner and a smoky kitchen
roused her to immediate effort, and,
borrowing a pencil from the young
man in front, she scribbled a note.
Just then her husband, an usher in
the church, passed her pew. With a
murmured "Hurry!" she thrust the
note into his hand, and he, with an
understanding nod, turned, passed up
the aisle, and handed the note to the
minister. Mrs. Berkeley saw the act
in speechless horror, and shuddered as
she saw the minister smilingly open
the note and begin to read. But her
expression of dismay was fully equaled
by the look of amazement and wrath
011 the good man's face as he read the
words: "Go home and turn off the
gas!"—Lippincott's.
Up to Date in Agriculture.
However conservative the farmer Is
about his politics and his religion and
his views on morality, he has rid him
self of most of his old-time fixed ideas
about agriculture and is leading the
professional state experimentalists In
the search for new methods.—Toledo
Blade.
HE DESCRIBES AN
We thought when we came to
Africa we would be near to nature,
where the natives were simple and
honest, but Pa has found that the al
most naked negroes can give the white
men cards and spades and little casino
and then beat them at the game.
Pa has been blackmailed and scared
out of his boots and a lot of money,
by an injured husband, as natural as
he could have been ilim-flaninied in
New York.
We noticed that Pa was quito inter
ested in a likely negro woman, one of
20 wives of a heathen, to the extent
of having her wash his shirts, and he
would linger at the tent of the hus
band and teach the woman some
words of English, such as, "you bet
your life," and "not on your life," and
a few cuss words which she seemed to
enjoy repeating.
She was a real nice looking nigger,
and smiled on Pa to beat the band,
but that was all. Of course she en
joyed having Pa call on her, and evi
dently showed her interest in him, but
that seemed only natural as Pa is a
nice, clean white man with clothes on
and she looked upon him as a sort of
king, until the other wives became
jealous, and they filled the husband
vp with stories about Pa and the
young negress, but Pa was as innocent
as could be. Where Pa made the mis
take was in taking hold of her hand
and looking at the lines in her palm,
to read her future by the lines in
her hand, and as Pa is some near
sighted he had to bend over her hand
and then she stroked Pa's bald head
with the other hand, and the othei
Pa Made a ' ' the Uttls' hlch Began to
Make a Noise a Baby.
wives went off and Ssft Pa and the
young wife alone, and they called the
husband to put a stop to it.
Well, I never saw a giant negro so
mad as that husband was when ho
came into the tent and saw Pa, and
Pa was scared and turned pale, and
the woman had a fit when she saw her
husband with a baseball club with
spikes on it. He took his wife by the
neck and threw her out of the tent,
and then closed the tent and he and
Pa were alone, and for an hour no
one knew what happened, but when
Pa came back to our camp, wobbly in
the legs, and with not much clothes
on, we knew the worst had happened.
Pa told Mr. Hagenbach thaf. the
negro acted like a human being. He
cried and told Pa he had broken into
his family circle and picked the fairest
flower, broken his heart and left him
an irresponsible and broken man, the
laughing stock of his friends, and
nothing but Pa's life or his money
could settle it.
Pa offered to give up his life, but
the injured husband had rather have
the money, and after an hour Pa com
promised by giving him sl6 and his
coat, pants and shirt, and Pa is to
have the wife in the bargain. Pa
didn't want to take the wife, but the
husband insisted on it, and Mr. Hagen
bach says we can take her to America
and put her into the show as an un
tamed Zulu, or a missing link, but he
insists that Pa shall be careful Lere-
Manias Are Epidemics.
Manias and delusions arc mental
phenomena, but they are social. They
are diseases of the mind, but they are
epidemic. They are contagious, not
as cholera is contagious, but contact
to others is essential to them. They
are mass phenomena.—Prof. W. G.
Sumner, in "Folkways."
Feinting.
Statistics—Of the 1,001 young wom
en who fainted last year 987 fell into
the arms of men, two fell on the floor
and one into a water butt. —Life.
ELEPHANT HUNT
after with his fatal beauty and win
ning ways, or we shall have more ne
gro women to bring back than animals
in cages.
Talk about your innocent negroes,
they will cheat you out of your boots.
Pa went off in the jungle to buy
animals of a negro king or some kind
of a nine spot, and he found the king
had in a corral half a dozen green
zebras, the usual yellow stripes being
the most beautiful green you ever saw.
The king told Pa it was a rare species
only procured in a mountain fastness
hundreds of miles away, and Pa
botight the whole bunch at a fabulous
price, and brought them to camp. Mr.
Hagenbach was tickled to death at
the rare animals, and praised Pa, and
said there was a fortune in the green
and black striped zebras. I thought
there was something wrong when I
heard one of those zebras bray like a
mule when he was eating liay, but it
wasn't my putin, and I didn't say
anything.
That night there was the greatest
rain we have had since we came here,
and in the morning the green and
black striped zebras hadn't a stripe on
them, and they proved to be nothing
but wild asses and assesses, white
and dirty, and all around the corral
the water standing on the ground was
colored green and black.
Mr. Hagenbach took Pa out to the
corral and pointed to the wild white
mules and said, "What do you think
of your green zebras now?" Pa looked
them over and said: "Say, that negro
king is nothing but a Pullman porter,
and he painted those mules and sawed
them onto me," so we had to kill Pa's
green zebras and feed them to the
negroes and the animals. Mr. Hagen
bach told Pa plainly that he couldn't
stand for such conduct. He said he
was willing to give Pa carte blanche,
whatever that is, in his love affairs in
South Africa, but he drew the line at
being bunkoed on painted animals. He
believed in encouraging art, and all
that, but animals that wouldn't wash
were not up to the Hagenbach stand
ard.
Pa went off and sulked all day, but
he made good the next day.
Our intention was to let elephants
alone until we were about to return
home, as they are so plenty we can
find them any day, and after you have
once captured your elephants you have
got to cut hay to feed them, but Pa
gets some particular animal bug in
his head, and the management has to
let him have his way, so the other day
was his elephant day, and he started
off through the jungle with only a few
men, and the negro wife that he horn
swoggled the husband out of. Pa said
he was going to use her for a pointer
to point elephants, the same as they
use dogs to point chickens, and when
we got about a mile into the jungle
he told her to "hie on"and find an
elephant. Well, sir, she has got the
best elephant nose I ever saw on a
woman. She ranged ahead and beat
the ground thoroughly, and pretty
soon she began to sniff and sneak up
English Regim
A peculiar custom obtains in the
Twelfth Lancers —the playing of the
Vesper Hymn, the Spanish Chant, and
the Russian National Hymn every
night of the year after the "Last
Post" has sounded. It is said that the
playing of the Vesper Hymn orig
inated in one of the officers' wives pre
senting the regiment with a new set
of Instruments on condition that the
hymn was played every night after the
"Last Post." The playing of the
on the game, and all of a sudden she
came to a point and held up one foot,
and her eyes stuck out, and Pa said
the game was near, and he told her
to "charge down," and we went onto
surround the elephant. Pa was ahead
and he saw a baby elephant not big
ger than a Shetland pony, looking
scared, and Pa made a lunge and fell
on top of the little elephant which
began to make a noise like a baby that
After an Hour Pa Compromised by
Giving Him Sixteen Dollars, His
Coat, Shirt and Pants.
wants a bottle of milk, and we cap
tured the little thing and started for
camp with it, but before we got in
sight of camp all the elephants in
Africa were after us crashing through
the timber and trumpeting like a
menagerie.
Pa and a cowboy and some negroes
lifted the little elephant up into a
tree, and the whole herd surrounded
us, and were going to tear down the
tree, when the camp was alarmed and
Hagenbach came out with all the men
and negroes on horseback, and they
drove the herd into a canyon, and built
a fence across the entrance, and there
we had about fifty elephants in the
strongest kind of a corral, and we
climbed down from the tree with the
baby elephant and took it to camp,
and put it in a big bag that Pa's air
ship was shipped in, and we are feed
ing the little animal on condensed
milk and dried apples.
We have got a tame elephant that
was bought to use on the wild ele
phants, to teach them to be good, and
the next day Pa was ordered to ride
the tame elephant into the corral to
get the wild animals used to society.
Pa didn't want togo but he had
bragged so much about the way he
handled elephants with the circus in
the States that he couldn't back out,
and so they opened the bars and let
Pa and his tame elephant in, and
closed the bars.
I think the manager thought that
would be the end of Pa, and the men
all went back to camp figuring on
whether there would be enough left
of Pa to bury or send home by ex
press, or whether the elephants would
walk on Pa until he was a part of the
soil. In about an hour we saw a white
spot on a rock above the canyon, wav
ing a piece of shirt, and we watched
it with glasses, and soon we saw a fat
man climbing down on the outside,
and after awhile Pa came sauntering
into camp, across the veldt, with his
coat on his arm, and his sleeves rolled
up like a canvasman in a show, sing
ing, "A Charge to Keep I Have." Pa
came up to the mess tent and asked if
lunch was not ready, and he was sur
rounded by the men and asked how
he got out alive. Pa said: "Well, there
is not much to tell, only when I got
into the corral the whole bunch made
a rush for me and my tame elephant.
I stood on my elephant and told them
to lie down, and they got on their
knees, and then I made them walk
turkey for a while, and march around,
and then they struck on doing tricks
and began to shove my elephant and
get saucy, so I stood up on my ele
phant's head and looked the wild ele
phants in the eyes, and made them
form a pyramid until I could reach a
tree that grew over the bank of the
canyon, and I climbed out and slid down
as you saw me. There was nothing to
it but nerve," and Pa began to eat
corned zebra and bread as though he
was at a restaurant.
"Now," says Pa, as he picked his
teeth with a thorn off a tree, "to-mor
row we got to capture a mess of wild
African lions, right in their dens,
cause the gasoline has come b?
freight, and the airship is mended, and
you can look out for a strenuous ses
sion, for I found a canyon where the
lions are thicker than prairie dogs in
Arizona," and Pa laid down for a lit
tle sleeping sickness, so I guess we
will h?ve the time of our lives to-mor
row and Pa has promised me a baby
lion for a pet.
(Copyright, 1908, by W. G. Chapman.)
(Copyright in Great Britain.)
"ntal Customs.
Spanish Chant is declared to be a
penance for the sacking of a convent
during the Peninsular war. No reason
is assigned for the playing of the Rus
sian National Anthem.
Not Worried.
"Doesn't it make you nervous to
have your son play football?"
"Oh, no, I don't mind it a bit. He
is only my stepson, you know."—Chi
cago Record-Herald.