Evening Star Newspaper, March 6, 1897, Page 20

20 THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 1897—24 PAGES. "THE TREASURE: FISHING. — xe Ey CUTLIFFE HYNF. eS (Copyrieited® be Carlie Hyne.) for The Evening S\ I y the two divers must have been in it from the very first, amd, Indeed, I've a strong notion the whole plot to steal the treasure was in the beginning theirs, and . lone. T cat bo suge, but I've aa idea that Miss Bradbury came into the ess soon after We sailed from Liver- and if one,may hazard a guess, it was because Willie Cameron, the diver with the black hair, fell fi love with her and let out the secret. However, I didn’t arrive at any of this till later; and if it hadn't been lugged into the business by the veriest outside chance, it’s my belief the three of them would have walked off with all the gold, and the salvage company would never have seen so much as the bare color of it There was a distinct. understanding be- tween me and Capt. Boyd when I signed on as “third” of the Gleaner that I was only doing it as a personal obligation to himseif. The berths of second and chief engineer had been filled; they wanted a man who wouldn't mind’ bearing a hand if anything went wrong wiih tackle; and they couldn't better than myself. I was thoroughly well xrounded in the shops before ever I thought of the sea: and, though L say it, few better fitters and all-around mechanics have ever stood on the foot-platen of a steamboat’s gine room. If it wasn’t for the board of and their -rotten examinations I'd been chief long ago; and with a chief's ticket in my pocket you‘mray be sure I'd have got the ma the whisky, and in’ Sight of any one nore, the diving have picked a Of course, it was a condescension for a man like me to be third on a bit of a steamboat like the Gleaner: but I was drawing eight pounds a month, which was the same as the second engineer got; and I'll not deny I was in a manner forced into taking the first berth that offered. I'd been paid off from my last ship in Liverpool, and I'd met friends who knew Ballindro- ter, where my father had been Free Kirk minister, and we'd got a little no’ and found trouble. The fat English brute of a magistrate did give us the option, but it took all the moriey I bad left to pay my- Relf out I might Iness of th for me. even admit, too, that the bus- Gleaner hed some attraction She was off treasure fishing to the Canaries; she was chartered by a little comrany that called itself the S. S Corinth Salvage Association, and the work for her ergineers promised to be light. We should steam down channel, through the bay and down to the spot among the is- lands where the Corinth had been sunk. And where we should swing at anchor whilst the boats went off with the divers to do their work. We should keep banked fires in case an on-shore breeze came, and we had to steam out, but as a general thing there would be no watches for us engineers and full pay going all the time. “It'll be the softest job you've tumbled Into for many a long day, Mr. McTodd,” said the old man when he offered me the berth. “We shall be quite @ family ship. There’ a big, large cabin, and we shall all mes together—mates, engineers, divers and pa: sengers—with your chief at one end of the le and me at the other.” 1, “I thought this ‘They are coming just for a cruise; a Mr. Kent and his wife and her sister, a Miss Bradbury. Of course, the Gleaner t a passenger certificate, so they will have get to sign articles like the rest of the board of to windward of take ean and they in ing doctor and Miss Bradbury write 3 for their grub and roon they would en a regular packet. ust coming to see the diving and Ee w of sea alr, and I shouldn't won- der but what the young lady writes a book it when she gets home. So keep your Mr. McTodd. It's a yway. The Corinth worth of gold with her abou hair combed straight affai pretty big Kk down £ she foundered. She was a cape boat, you know, coming home.* “Her propeller shaft broke, didn’t it, the after end of the tun- the idea, Mac. There was a And it ripped the stern when it went. Of g door to the shaft tunnel t was wanted, and so had swamp. There was no help for vd half an hour to get clear in, and saved about two-thirds of her I guess the rest of the poor beg- slid Kars are in her now, and an ugly sight thes be he divers when they go weigh that gold.” had other bi ine: to at- so I left him, but after we and had dropped our Lynas. there was in- k ahead for any talk was The ssengers said treas- of those far T © suited writer that have heard of ny hand though; it nen it was we sea line, tbe seen by any « And Willie Cam- eror d if ever I saw trymen, and at one time yut in a fairish The Her Shoulders as We Struggled On. deal of talk. His airpump needed a bit of an overhaul, and as I was set on to help him, we had plenty of opportunity. But I'll hot say we got much off general topics. He Seemed a man in a desperate hurry to get rich, and "most every day he'd ask me if I could point him out a plan. But my an- @wer to him was always the same. _ Man," I'd say; “I'd no be acting as third engineer on an odd-job steamboat like this if I'd a plan handy to my fingers such as you seem to want.” And then he'd shake his head and sigh and fall to talking about the methods by which he and his mate hoped to get the boxes out of the wreck and down into ner's hold. I suppose I ought to n what he was after then. But I . Vd enly got it in mind that he wante] to marry Miss Bradbury, and didn’t his way to fingering enough money et up housekeeping upon. -asy bay and a good run down, Grand Canary one morning before the dawn. We ran into Les Palmas harber and saw Teneriffe far away across the sand neck, with its sunny head, in the sunrise. We'd a day there mak- ing arrangements, and getting’ in some stores, and then we steamed out again and made for the spot where the Corinth had gone Jown, and brought up to an anchor and lowered fires. “Before us lay the open sea, behind were the dry cinler hills of Grand Canary, and above was blue heaven and a sun of danc- ing brass. The day was frizzling; the island gave us a lee out of the southeast trade, and there was no breath of wind astir. The water lay like a sheet of metal. No divers could have asked for a better prospect. We got their two boats into the water, each with air pump, rowers, coxswain, man to tend the life lines and men to pump, and off they rowed, a hundred yards apart. Presently the air pumps began to turn, and “Very well, then; just give me your hand for haif a minute and look me in the eye.” I did that. “Now,” said he, “you're a servant of the Corinth Salvage Association, and I'm another. Your father was a gentleman, wasn’t he?” . “He was that, sir, and one of the most honored Free Kirk ministers in Scotland.” “Then you must be a gentleman, too, though I dare say you are not always treated as such. Now, swear to me, Mac, on your honor as a gentleman, that you'll be true to those that are employing you. I looked him in the face and did it cheer- fully. When a man treats me properly (and God knows few enough of them have tried it) he’s got a fellow to work for him he ought to value highly. I got into the suit as the boat rowed me out to the buoy, and when we picked up the mooring the men screwed on the hel- met for me and started the air pump. It wasn't a new experience to me. I'd been diving before in the Clyde to bore holes into a sunken pier with a rachet drill. I went over the side, took the rope and lowered myself, hand over fist, through the gray water till the leaden soles on my feet touched ground. The corky feeling was a bit new again at first, but I soon got over that, and then as my air valves were working all right and I could breathe quite easily, I set about looking for Cam- ercn. He was somewhere out of sight, but his air tube was lying on the mud I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO GRAPPLE WITH ME AND I SLASHED AT HIM WITH THE SHOVEL. the diver, like some white, uncanny sea beast, went over from each. After a pause the boats pulled slowly ahead. Cameron and his mate were walking along the sea floor, searching for the wreck. I was off watch, and stood leaning my elbows on the t’gallant rail of the lower deck, and smoked and looked about me. The water was full of these little pink-sail- ed jelly fish that we sea folk call Portu- guese men-o'-war, though “nautilus” is, I believe, the fancy name. I pointed them out to Miss Bradbury, who was standing near, and asked her if she'd like one caught. “Do you think there's much danger, Mr. McTodd? says she. “They've just a we sting to them if they get ufon your hand: sald I. “But there's no need to touch them. You can just gratify your eyes, and then we will fling them overboard again. They're no beauties that ye'd care to keep and take home with ye, like a canary bird. “What do you mean?” says she. “I'm talking of these Portuguese men-o'- war.” She put her hand upon my arm and I looked up into her face and saw it was as white as paper, saving for black rings un- der the eyes. “I beg your pardon, Mr. Mc- Todd, for being so inattentive. I'm afraid my thoughts are under the sea instead of en top of it. Is this diving very dangerous work? Their air tubes might get entan- gled.” “They're too old hands to let them foul.” “Or they may get swept away by cur- rents.” “Their life lines will keep them in tow.” “Or shark: harks are always feared at divers, Miss Bradbury. No, miss, you may be- Heve me, those two men are as safe down @t work below as you are here, or safer, seeing that they can't get sunstroke, and you very likely will if you stay here away from the awnings with no hat on.” She shivered and thanked me, and went away into the shade, and I turned again and watched the boats and the two moving patches of muddied water which they were following. It struck me at the moment that the S. S. Corinth Salvage Association were putting a vast deal of trust in the two men whom they employed as their Givers—f270,000 worth of gold is a very vast bulk of wealth for poor men to be near. They did not find the wreck that day or the next. Indeed not till a week had passed did they come across her, and then they found that she had settled on her broadside Into a little gully on the sea floor, where a current had carried silt over her till she was almost covered out of sight. They buoyed her when she was found, and that day I went off in Cameron’s boat and tried to see if I could make her out from above. But she lay in sixteen fathoms, and the water was gray with mud from them work- ing below. Looking down into it was like peeering through a mist. The raner swung at her anchor over the western ocean swells, and the sun bleached her awnings to the whiteness of new-fallen snow. For myself, but for one thing, I never had such an easy time on full pay during all my seagoing. There no work to do. A lot of grog was served ut, coast-fashion, at eight bells; and the chest tobacco burnt slowly and co: 2 shillings a pound. But there was - thing ied me, and that was Miss y. She had joined at Li a lassie as one could w re to meet, she was getting whiter and thin- You could alm t see the and she'd ick to look at. All : there was no avoiding such but they put it down to anxiety meron. a thing: about C The pair of them were openly engaged to marry by this time, and I must say the way that he and the other diver worked was a caution. Of course, the water was warm, but it was fairish deep, and I never w men stay down longer. They never med to give in whilst they had strength -ft to lift a hand, and when they came to the surface and had their gear taken off, they'd be almost fainting with weariness from what they'd gone through. And it wasn't a one-day occurrence either. They were always the same, and the weeks slip- ped away ttil they had run into a month, and still none of the gold had been brought to the Gleaner. The silt was the trouble, it seemed. As fast as they dug It out just so fast did it slide down again into the steamer’s bow- els, and the strong room, which lay right down against her keel, could not be come at. Of course, one understood that Cam- e1on's reputation depended upon his bring- ing off this salvage job successfully, but I don't see the force of a man killing him- self, and I told him so more than once. I fancied at the time that Miss Bradbury was telling him the same every day, but he didn't take any notice of elther of us, nor did Storey, the other diver, and the pair of them just worked themseives to rags. A stopper was put on their game, how- ever, in a way they did not expect. The steward brought word one morning that the captain wanted to see me, and I turned out of my bunk and went on deck. He seemed in a bit of a worry. “Mr. Storey's had a stroke,” “I've told that man a dozen times to take drugs, sir,” said I, “and he never would.” “Drugs are all very well for us, Mac,” says he, “that have ordinary stomachs, but drugs wouldn't have saved Storey what he’s got, and that’s paralysis.” “My certie!” said 1. “It's true," said the old man. “It took him while he was in the boat. Cam- eron had just gone down and Storey was going to follow him when he was seized. They took off his helmet and brought him back here, and ‘he’s down in his room now with half of him dead and no speech left.” “It's a complaint, I've heard, that often does seize divers. s t does if they stick to the trade too Well, Mac, I'm wanting some one to take his place, and I give you first of- fer. It'll mean £5 a week above and be- yond your .present pay, and there’s noth- ing to hinder your earning it.” “Nothing that I see, sir. Storey and I ste goat tp 8 bel. and Econ wel: Me suit.” says he. among the sea shrubs, like a thin white eel, and I followed that easily enough. It led me to the Corinth, where she lay with her decks straight up and down, and I saw it passing away through the watery blackness down her companion hatch. There seemed something wrong here. Where were all the great moving banks of slime the divers had told us about? Where wes the filthy ooze which slid back against the steamer as fast as they dug it away? Siime there was in plenty; I sank in it kneedeep in spite of the buoyancy of the suit; but it was quite manageable, and the Corinth’s companion lay far above its mark. A rope lay against the upright deck beside the white air tube. I thought a minute, and then laid hold and swarmed up. Inside all yas dark, but I switched on light in the electric lamp I had with me and the glow lit the place like a foggy street. The first step landed me on something that crunched. I looked down and saw it was a suit of bones, skimmed clean by tne fishes. Some poor wretch had been drown- ed here when the steamer foundered. Well, of course, I had seen a skeleton before, but somehow or other those bones didn’t seem to cheer me. There was something wrong; the yarn the divers had brought up and the real thing as it lay were two entirely dif- ferent matters. It occurred to me that I had stumbled (by the accident of Storey’s paralysis) upon something intended to be hid, and I was quite man enough to know that trouble might very possibly follow. I stopped where I was, and thoug! Ta @ big mind to go back then and report what I had seen. I felt I should be earning my pay by doing that. But at the same time I itked Cameron; he was a fellow country- man, and more besides, and I didn’t want to report him as acting off the square; su i one my heart and went on down be- low. The white trail of the air tube led me down the stair to the lowest berth deck, then along the alleyway right aft, and then irto a cabin, with a hatch in the floor. Sitting on the lid of the hatch was Cam- eron, who turned around when my ilght fell upon him. He beckoned me with an impatient gesture, and slipped down into the blackness belo’ It was clear he did not recognize me; he took it for grantéd that I was Storey delayed by some acci- dent. For a moment I stayed outside ir- resolute, and a shoal of small fish, attract- ed by the light, brushed past my legs. I remembered that they had been browsing on corpses, and were prospecting me’ as food, and the idea made a shudder inside my rubber clothes. Then I thought good to see exactly what was going to happen, and slipped through the hatch after Cameron. We were in Corinth’s strong room. The gold was beneath and around us, in iron- bound boxes, built together like the bricks of a wall. Cameron lifted an end of one ot the boxes, and noded his helmeted head to- ward me impatiently. I took hold, and to- gether we swung it up through the water and ont through the hatches. Then he scrambled up himself, and I followed. Again we lifted the box, treading with care along the slimy alley ways so as not to foul our air pipes. I could feel the bones of the dead shift beneath my feet, and my chest was tight with labor. In spite of the buoyancy of the water, the box of gold was as much as the pair of us could strug- gle along with. At last, with infinite trouble, we came out through the companion natch, and lowered the box with a rope down to the bed of slime below. We followed it, lifting it between us again, and wallowed on with it through the morass of slime. The herb- age of the sea brushed our shoulders as we struggled on; the skeletons of the dead stood sentinel along our path, and the gold- en silence of the water crushed into my spirit. We held our way right around the steamer’s bows, and there against her keel we came upon a pit. It had been dug through the slime with infinite labor, aad shored up with planking. With a rope we lowered the gold chest down into the pit, and Cameron followed. 1 switched on my lamp, and saw him heaving and thrusting it down a gallery which led far beneath the iron sheathing of the wreck. A shovel lay against a sea shrub at the Mp of the pi:. I took it In my hand. I was away from the world of air in this lonely world of water. Cameron and I were the only hu- Man occupants, with none to overlook us; and I felt that I ought to be on my guard against him. From his point of view it was clear I knew too much. Presently he returned from out of the pit, and was about to go back again round thed bows of the steamer, but I touched him with my shovel and he turned. Then I pointed to the front glass of my helmet, and he came up close and peered at my face, and as quickly recoiled. Then again he came toward me, this time with clenched fists, but I menaced him with the uplifted shovel, and he kept his distance. How I longed for speech then to say to him what I wished! For a full minute we stared at cne an- other, and then, with a sudden gesture, he picked a fragment of stone from the ground and wrote a message on the rusted plat- ing of the wreck. “Hold your tongue, Mac,” I read, “and you shail share “I wrote a laborious reply with the peak of the shovel: “Cannot deal with you. Am bound to employers.” tdi scribbled “425,000 and watched my ace, I shook my head inside the helmet. He wrote ‘£30,000’ and looked at me again. I wrote: “‘Not for £270,000." I saw he was ready to spring upon me, and held the shovel edge above my shoulder handy to cut him down. B He considered for a minute and then wrote: “If you blow on me you will kill her. She knows. She never liked the ides, but I persuaded her into it. We wanted to marry; we wanted to be rich; there was no other way. She is half dead with anxiety. ‘You must have seen that.” I nodded. He wrote on: “Then consider her, Mac, and make your own fortune at the same time.” I could not stand any. more of this. I have been poor enough all my life, and, God knows, I ken the value of siller. If it had not been that Capt. Boyd treated me in the way he did, and looked in my eye when he gate me the job, I'll not say what might have happened. It takes a strong rag bigger kind of tempta- owsr lusty. I beckoned to the water surface above with my shovel and took a step,forward. With his arm he implored me to ‘hausg, “Are you going to yeport what you have seen?” he wrote, yy I shrugged myjshoniders. : Through the slass Q§shis helmet I saw his face harden. a Bice “I give you fair warning,” he wrote on the rusted iron,’“thathf you do I will kill you first, and then myself. So you will not find it cheap to ruin—me.” % I nodded my head to show I understood, and beckoned hign ta,go on. He lifted his hands—I thought, he was going to grapple with me, and I'slashed at him with the shovel. He drew back, and, once on the move, I drove him before me furiously. He might be desperate, {but I was savage enough myself. .The,;thought of all that wealth lying within touch made me grit my teeth in cruel ‘rage. If only the skipper had not said what he did! We plowed our way across the slimy sea floor to where the boat lay at moorings, and first Cameron went up, and then I fol- lowed. On the row back to the Gleaner we said nothing, either of us; and for long enough we did not find opportunity of be- ing alone. But that night, when most of the hands were turned in, ne and I sat out together on the bridge deck, and he talked whilst I looked out at the stars where they hung above the black ridges of the island. He told me the whole tale of what he and Storey intended to do. They could not go fer from the wreck, as the air bubbles, rising to the surface, would ad- vise their movements; so they had to set to work and make a hiding place for their plunder close at hand. They decided to dig out a chamber beneath the steamer, and infinite labor it cost them. Meanwhile, to mask what they were doing, they gave out the tale of the ooze covering the treas- ure out of reach. Their efforts were near- ly ended when Storey got his stroke; the pit was made; part of the gold was al- ready transported; and when the rest was hid, then they intended to cover the mouth of the pit so that it never could be found by chance explorers. Then they were go- ing to tell Cept. Boyd that the job beat them, and get his permission to blow into the Corinth’s strong room with dynamite from the outside. The explosion would be so contrived that the steamer would be rived to pieces, and the ooze would cover all her fragments. “You think that the Gleaner would re- turn heme then?’ I asked. “There would be nothing else for it.’” “But the company would send out an- other expedition.” “Let them send out ten; they'd find noth- man to resist tions, and—I’m nd afterwards’ torey and I were going to charter a schooner, put diving tackle on board, and ecme out here again by ourseWes. We could weigh the gold in a couple of days, and I know of a market.” “Well, will never use limbs or ’m sure of it, Mac; you must take his place. We two and one other can work the schooner, and a year from now we'll be rich men. Think of it, lad—rich beyond what you ever thought of. Think of it—no more having to stand your watch at sea; no more sea at all. You can stay in England and marry and live a decent life. Think of it, Mac.” I was thinking of it. As I sat there watching the heat lightning wink among the black hills of the island, I was remem- bering that it was a chance such as I had never had before in all my life, and one which would never come to me again. I'd been kicked about the world ever since 1 first went a wee bit wrong in Ballindroch- ater, and I'd sworn'never to see the place more till I'd enough sflver to build a house there as big as the manse itself. I hun- gered for the old‘spot*tgain, with its gray houses and theisbrown moorland at the back; my mither’waststill there and poor. I could dc a power 6f good in the place (the deil told me*ther) if I went back rich and enlightened with all my store of for- eign travel. But: thei what the captain had sald to me*eamei back; how he re- minded me I had ‘been’ born a gentleman, and how he'd treat me as my father’s son and trust to my honor; and I stood to my feet and swore. > wn I'm no profane mamas a general’ thing; it always seems to me there's small profit to be got out of mere. swearing; but 1 cursed then till Cameron blenched before me, and the air ought to have tasted sul- phury. Bon te nek “Lookevhere,”:1 saidsto him. ° MI-give you . your: choice-—those.bowes are to. be taken back. from the:pit aged stowed back m- side the Corinth tomorro: then we'll an- nounce that we've dug away the mud, and can get at the stiong room; and next day we'll warp the Gleaner across, rig a whip, and iet her hoist them on board one by one with her owm winch. If you'll do this, I'll work with you so long as my arms will move; if you refuse, I'll go to the old man now and tell him what I know.” “You are playing me a very dirty game,” said he. I stormed at him. ‘Am I?” I cried. “Couldn't I get you into gaol? Couldn't I have_put you in irons this moment as a common thief? But I want to help you out of your mess, because of a reason you know.” “Why in thunder, man, yourself, too, and be rich?’ “Because of a reason you would not un- derstand.” “It may be a dangerous deal for you yet,” he said grimly. “Ah, there,” said I, “I've insured myself. I've thought that if an accident happened to me below the water yonder, you might forget to be honest. So I've written out an account of what I know, and sealed it: and if I don't turn up, the envelope will be opened.” “You've pinned me?” he sald, “I think so.”" He stared at me queerly for a minute end then he spoke again. “Do you know, Mac,” said he, “I’m not so sorry for it as you might think. I was led into this prec- ious scheme by some one else. But I'm not going to blame anybody now that can’t be here to speak for himself. And besides, I'll freely admit that I was keen enough upon the chance when it was put in my way; it seemed so safe; and it was such a thump- ing big plum to go for. I guess we've most of us kept honest through fear of being found out.” - ‘And besides. things are not always as safe as they look.” “You're right, M: and T'll remember that for the future; and I guess it'll scare me into keeping straight.” “Yon’s not a very healthy way of looking said 1. admit tha “but fragn so- 's point of view it’s a very useful one. We're funny animals. I feel far easter now than I did an hour ago, and I know some one else who'll be easier too.” von't you help “That will be Miss Bradbury you're speaking of?” “Maybe so, maybe no,” said he. “The person I have in mind writes books, and has a great lking for romance, and told me almost as soon as we met that it was a.pity the old days were gone when there were pirates and all that sort of stuff, and sea life was more'exciting. We got inti- mate, that writer and I, Mac, and the tale of this game here with the gold boxes slipped out. I claimed there was every bit as much romance in that as there was in the old-time buccanneering.” “And she agreed to let you go on with it just because she loved you,” said I, “and then ate her heam out with fear lest you should get dropped upon. Man, you need na’ go further with he yarn. ’s been plain to the eyes of evary one that’s watch- ed the lassie about the decks that she was just fretting herself !00 a shadow about something." me ME “It's made mesdiearly cry to see her,” says he. sl ob “Well, man,” said i “‘it's over now, and she can begin to pat ontflesh again so soon as ever you choose’ té tell her the new plan. If I mistake not, yon’s the flutter of a dress in the cormipanten way this minute. I'll be away forraird and turn in. Maybe you'll have business hese you'd rather talk of out of my hearing. And a minute liter & heard the hum of their voices, and guessed Cameron was get- ting rid of his new version of the tale. So that was the way the,gold boxes from the Corinth found their way into the Gleaner’s hold, but I fancy Capt. Boyd must have thought all along that there was something going on which was not quite according to rule. Still, how he found it out I can’t say. Storey couldn’t have told him, since the man never found speech again; it was cer- tain that neither Cameron nor Miss Brad- bury would -have let it out; and most as- suredly I did not. But after we got to Liverpool, and all hands from the Gleaner turned aut to see our diver married to-his girl, the. old man pulled me aside as we left the church and crumpled a.couple of £20 Bank of England notes into. my hands, and, ‘“Those,” said he, “are from the salvage company.:-J told | them I thought you deserved a dash. I told them } theught they were owing you-| a matter of £270,000, but I couldn’t get more for you,-Mac, my lad, and perhaps you are better without it. © panies are not ad- dicted to giving awa} .ips when they aren’t forced, they have thirsts, haven’t they, my lad?’ ‘Well, I suppose he was right. I know I had clean pockets a week later. and third engineers, Mac—well, | LATE. ACHIEVEMENTS What Travel, Science and Industry Have Discovered. THE LARGEST TELESCOPE YET Its Gigantic Lens to Be Made in Over-120 Sections. A GIANT STORAGE BATTERY ———————— Written for ‘The Evening Star. A new telescope has been ordered for the astronomical observatory on Mt. Lowe, near Pasadena, Cal., that will not mere be twice the size and power of the largest telescope now in existence, but in its con- struction represents such a radical depart- ure that, if successful, it will open a new epoch in astronomy. Indeed, it is promised that high power telescopes, such as now entail the expenditure of hundreds of thou- ands of dollars, will become so cheap that every high school and educational institu- tion in the country might afford to own one. The basis for these extraordinary Fredictions is the fact that the new tele- scope for Mt. Lowe will be simply an as- semblage of small telescopes, which in their combination will have the same power as an immense glass of the same aggre- gate objective. As every one is aware the cost of a lens increases very rapidly in proportion to its size. The 42-inch ob- jective for the new Yerkes instrument, which has just been completed, alone cost $18,000, cast in the rough. The grinding and polishing may haye cost twice as much more. Another fact which is less under- stood is that the large lens which forms the objective of a telescope is not a mag- nifler, but a light gatherer. The magni- fication of the image is done by the eye- piece. It was this fact, set off against the immense cost of lenses of very great size, that led an ingenious German inventor, now living in Chicago, to the idea that instead of an objective formed of a single large lens he might -make the latter in sections, so to speak, and accomplish the same result and even much more. At a first glance it seems simply absurd to suppose that a great lens made in sec- tions with the necessary breaks in between, would be worth anything whatever, since the casting, grinding and polishing of a great lens like that in the Lick telescope or for the new Yerkes observatory, literally requires years of the most patient and un- remitting effort. And even then there are often imperfections which make the in- strument far from perfect. But, accord- ing to the theory upon which the Lowe telescope is to be constructed, if the sub- stance which fills the interstics between .the different small lenses be opaque, and Ikewise of such character as not to de- velop the prismatic colors, not only will the vision not be impeded in the least, but a great lens far more perfect than of any single gless may be built up in this way. Weighing far less than the Lick, the cost of the mount of the Lowe telescope, like its lens, will be comparatively small, and no monster glass roof observatory will be re- quired for its housing. Yet, further, Prof. Lowe believes that the new telescope will not only be capable of much finer work than any glass now in existence, on account af its size, but that it would do this were its diameter equal only to that of the Lick or Yerkes. A lens a yard in diameter, made of a single piece of glass, is exceedingly sensitive to the minute variations of tem- perature. If it-be possible to build a glass with an objective of five or six feet, without loss of power, there is nothing to hinder the construction of a glass ten or twelve feet in diameter, and by thus increasing the light gathering area, to correspondingly en- large the magnifying power of the eye- Hiete. ‘Prof: Lowe Is, indeed, sanguine that the new telescope is a fresh beginning, as ‘he puts it, in astronomy. And beyond all this, he bids us look for the day when every village, so to speak, will have its Lick tele- scope, made not by hand, but by machinery! A GIANT STORAGE BATTERY. Most Powerful in the World to Study the Nature of the Roentgen Rays. Among the first scientists in this country to experiment with the Roentgen rays was Prof. John Trowbridge of Harvard Uni- versity, whose early successes in this new field of investigation attracted wide atten- tion. The mdre Prof. Trowbridge studied these strange phenomena the more he be- came convinced thatthe ordinary methods of producing the Roentgen rays were un- satisfactory and not calculated to give the best results. As every one knows, these rays for the new photography are excited by passing a current from some kind of an electrical machine through a glass bulb from which the air has been previously ex- hausted to a great extent, in other words, through what is commonly known as a vacuum tube or a Crookes tube. The ma- chines usually employed for sending this current are the induction coil, the large static machine, or the Tesla or Thompson fi, the last two used in connection with step-up” transformers. The objection to all of these machines is that they furnish an irregular supply of electricity, and in some in: lead to a confusion of ef- fects; that is, make it difficult to deter- mine which are caused by the Roentgen rays and which by the machine. It became, therefore, highly desirable to have a source of electricity which should be at once sted ed of i ciently high tenSion for the work in h Casting about him for something of this sort, Professor Trowbridge hit upon the storage battery as best mecting the ri quirements of the case. His observation of the werking of a high tension accumula- tor in the experimental laboratory of the American Bell Telephone Company led him to hope that such an accumulator on a larger scale would satisfy his needs, and he accordingly set about the construction of such an accumulator in his laboratory at Harvard. This was several months ago, and ‘t is only after weeks of effort that the professor's object has been attained. He has now at his disposition the largest stcrage battery in the world, a battery twenty times as large as the one from which he took model, or containing 10,000 cells, while the one in the telephone la- boratory contained only 500. Later on, in talking with Professor Trow- bridge himself, I understood the necessity of this enormous voltage, for experiments in this laboratory have demonstrated that when an electric discharge is passed through a Crookes’ tube the Roentgen rays do not make their appearance, ever so faintly, until the tension of the current amounts to 10,000 volts, and, in order to study the rays properly, it is necessary to have a much higher tension. ‘The professor said that his purpose in using this battery for producing Hoentgen rays is not so much to study the photographic effects of the rays as to investigate their nature, and their relations to other manifestations of light and electricity. He also proposes to ecnduct a series of careful experiments in passing the Roentgen discharges through tubes containing various gases in a pure state, hydrogen, argon, etc., and looks for important results to come from these ob- servations. He expects, for instance, to draw important conclusions as to the qual- ity of the light that comes to us from the stars. One point of interest to students of the Roentgen rays has been clearly demon- strated in the Harvard laboratory, namely, that it is impossible to produce these rays, as has been claimed by some experiment- ers, with the ordinary Edison incandescent lamp. The trouble with this lamp is that it does not contain a sufficiently high vacu- um to get Roentgen effects of any value, indeed, the high vacuum is of such para- mount importance in all work of this sort that Professor Trowbridge has imported .from Europe an elaborate and highly effi- cent air pump, with which he proposes in the future to make his own Crookes’ tubes. MICROBES ESSENTIAL TO LIFEt Conclusive Experiment of Two Berl Professors. The important part played by bacteria and other microbes in the economy of life, as is indicated by their breaking up tiséues_ and bringing about. general organic disso- elations, has suggested to some naturalists that their presence was an absolute nec- essity to the condition of life among most of the higher animals, and the late M. Pasteur expressed a belief, although not a conviction, that an animal nourished from its earliest existence on sterilized food could not long live. In order to test so im- crtant a biological question, Messrs. ( Nuttall and H. Thierfelder have lately car- ried out a series of exhaustive experiments in the hygienic institute of the Berlin Uni- versity on young guinea pigs, which had been removed from the mother by means of the caesarean operation. The young an- imals were placed in a sterilized chamber, supplied with sterilized air, and were fed exclusively upon sterilize@ milk, every pre- caution being at the seme time used to prevent access of bacteria. Food was sup- plied every hour of both day and nigh and at the expiration of eight days, when both investigators had become completely exhausted through their arduous work, the animal was killed, and a microscopic exam- ination made of its alimentary canal. No trace of bacterial life could be detected. The animal had tn the period of its nour- ishment consumed 330 cubic centimeters of milk, and when killed was to all appear- ances in perfect health and spirits. From these experiments Nuttall and Thierfelder conclude that the presence of bacteria in the alimentary canal is not essential to vital processes, so long as the food supplied is of an animal nature; and they believe that the result touches not only the guinea pig, but other animals well, including man. Subsequently experi- ments made with a vegetable diet—the food selected being “English” biscuits, contain- ing about 7 per cent nitrogenous material, 9 per cent fat, 17 per cent sugar, 50 per cent of other non-nitrogenous matters and 0.2 per cent cellalose—brought about much the same general result—if anything, only em- phasizing it. The experiments were con- ducted over a period of ten days, and dur- ing this time one of the animals had gained 23 grammes and another 11 grammes. THE ULTIMATE SOURCES OF THE MISSOURI. the Headwaters of Giant Stream. The detailed explorations of Messrs. J. V. Brower, James Blair, William M. Culver and Henry Hackett during the years 105 and 1896 give to the world all the geo- graphical details connected with the head- waters of what is seemingly “the longest continuovs unbroken current of running water In the world”—namely, the Missouri river. This giant stream, which from its ultimate source to its mouth (through the Mississippi) in the Gulf of Mexico, is now carefully computed to have a length of 4,221 miles, rises in a caldera (assumed to be of voleanic origin), near the crest of the Rocky mountains at the upper (eastern) portion of Culver’s canon, in the state of Montana. Thence it flow: westwardly and northwardly through glaciated valleys, and under the successive names of Red Rock river, Beaver Head river and the Jefferson fork, passes the mouths of the Madison and Gallatin to become the main stream, which unites with the Mississippi a few miles above St. Louis. The ultimate source of the stream is located in latitude 44 degrees 35 minutes north, and longitude 111 degrees 38 minutes west, and at an ele- vation of 8,000 feet above the sea. The mountain peaks of greatest elevation that dominate the region of the source are: Brown peak, 11,000 feet; Crater peak, 11,- 500 feet, and Blair mountain, 10,000' feet. The explorations, which were largely un- dertaken for the purpose of marking the Montana-Idaho state line, were accom- plished under great difficulties and hard- ships, and, as stated by Mr. Brower, were conducted principally on snow-capped peaks where several hundred snowslides had occurred recently; during the latter part of June of the past year snow from 2 to 30 feet in depth was frequently en- countered, while the ice in Blair lake was solid and firm and of a bluish-green color. Landmarks were established completely to the summit of Blair mountain, “an im- mense pile of nature’s accumulation, stand- ing one-fourth in Montana and three- fourths in Idaho. —— They Are Eaten Down to a Level. From the Atlanta Corstitution. In a farming district in Louisiana a can- didate recently made a very sensible talk to some of his discontented constituents. He told them. that it was hard to draw the line between the rich and the poor. “You call the Blanks rich people,” he said, “but they are simply well-to-do farmers. Over yonder, in the river bottom, they would be regarded as men of very moderate means. But the big planters of the bottom lands, even when they are out of debt, are Poor men by the side of the great mer- chants, manufacturers and general opera- tors in the cities. You think yourselves poor, but there are men who look upon you as people in easy circumstances. You are foolish to array the man with two horses against the man who has only one.” He then told the following story: “One day a farmer rode into a little country town, in a state adjoining Louisiana, and got into talk with some friends at a store where he had gone to make some purchases. ‘Well, John,’ said one, ‘how are you getting along?” ‘What, me? Oh, tolerably well— just the same, just like I always do.’ ‘And all the neighbors out your way, how are they getting along?’ “Well, they’re just the same, too—just like I am. We never al low any difference out our way, you know. No? Well, how do you manage that “Well, whenever we notice any fellow get- ting ahead, you know, we just go to see him, and we stay with him until we eat him back.’ "" There are many such communities. When people see their neighbors getting ahead oe swarm around them and “eat them back.” Exploring the Remarkable Horse Trade. Frem the Youth's Companion, Two gentlemen of Marshallton, Va., who for convenience we will call Mr. A. and Mr. S., met one day and agreed to swap horses. “I'll tell you what, John,” said Mr. A “if you get the best of the trade you shall bring me two bushels of wheat to hind the bargain, and if I come out best I'll do the same by you, eh?” ‘That's a go,” said Mr. S, and I ‘low you'll bring me the wheat.” ‘That's as it may be,” retorted Mr. A. “But let it be agreed, then, that a week from this afternoon the one that’s best suited, be it you or me, shall give tother two bushels of wheat.’” The week passed, the day came, and, as luck would have it, Mr. A. and Mr. S. met on the road about midway between their respective homes. “Where to, John?” cried Mr. A., as they stopped a moment to chat. “To your house with two bushels of wheat,” replied Mr. S. “Well, now, that’s good,” remarked Mr. A., for 1 was on my way to your house en the same errand. This horse you let me have can’t be beat.” “Just what I think of this nag,” retorted Mr. S., and then they had a hearty laugh and separated after exchanging wheat. ——SS Bad Lands of the West. From Lippincott The general aspect of this country is strange even to weirdness. It is not gen- erally barren, but is covered by the most curious and remarkable vegetation. For a hundred miles you may ride through orch- ards of the torch cactus, its thick trunk supporting bare arms, jointed by like bare perpendicular branches, standing in rough nakedness and stillness. The yucca, whose central stalk bears an abundance of pen- dulous white flowers, shows the green blade leaves of the palm family up all canons; and the thorny mescal and the Spanish degger, the intricate brush of greesewood, the scrubby mesquite, the white sage, and the innumerable grasses which in tufts and bunches checker here and there a broad sweep of bareness, all make up a flora as curious as it is wonderful. Even in regions of the maximum aridity, where the fierceness of the sun’s rays 1s intol- erable té life above the grade of a lizard, some defiant organisms of the vegetable kingdom will sustain themselves and cling to a reluctant existence. It is @ country, tpo, broken by number- less and strange mountains, which general ly show a barregness the vaileys do n display; in some parts their sharp ridges and craggy peaks will line a broad valley in continuous chain for many miles; again they will stand at varying heights, isola.ed, high round cones or low lumps, leaping suddenly from. the flat surface as though they were set there by some enormous hand like giant beehives. Which is a Fact. From the Philadelphia Press. : She—“No. I don’t prefer men who are known to be rich.” He—“How can that be?” She—“They don’t spend their money so freely as men who want to be known as rich.” = = —=2 NOTES = VERSITY UNI Columbian Univers The Enosin an Soci oe last night discussed the q D That there is a distinct - erature.” R. Harlan, Jones, 1 Rogers spoke in the affirmative er, Q. Harlan, Stuart and Biscoe on ihe negative. The News was edited by Mr. Rogers for class 1 and Miss Ross f and the Bee by Mr. Beatty for and Mr. Stuart fer class 2. Mr. Robinson Was dissertator and Mr dus eriti The Law School 1 clety. March discuss “Resolved, That the in- jon of radical codes of pleading is injurious to the proper development he The affirmative will be upheld by W. C. Shoup. F. L. Hemmings and A. B, Tolman, the negative iS Hendrick and 0. H onight will discuss the question “Resolved, That hereafter each stockholder of a corpo tion shall be liable for his proportion of all its debts and Mabilities.” he speakers RA D. Weakly, G. FP, Baggett and Bonebrake on the affirm- ative, and W. A. Owen, H. B. Moore and A. Garner on the negative. The follow committee has been appoint dent J. L. Cousar to revise thi and by ety J..W. Wright and J. T. # At the mecting of the ’ sophical Inquiry on Tuesday, Mr. Ward will read a paper on “Ph ephy of Modern Soctalistic Agitations the last meeting day Frank Bigelow. re ron “The losophy of American Constitutions.” he Next Monday evening Prot. W. W. John- ston will lecture on “Bennett and the Rev- olution in the Treatment of Pneumonia” in the public lecture course. On March 13, Saturday, Mr. Luman M. Ellis will tecture in the ‘students’ lectu course on “Cyrus M. Warren and his C tributions to the Chemistry of Petroleum Mr. John Womack Wright of the Law School has been elected president and man- ager of the Athletic Association. A consti- tution and by-laws have also been adopted, and a hustling board of directors appointed. The Columbian University Vaudevil Club has been rehearsing an original bur- lesque, entitled “A King, Three Queens ar a Jack,” bly give a perform- .” and will prot ance in about six weeks. Robert J. Martin, the efficient secretary of the university, has severed his conn tion with the school to accept the busir management of the Evangel, a denomina- tional paper published by the Rev. H. W, Wharton at Baltimore. Howard University, The program for the sucred song serv in Minor Hall tomorrow evening is as fe lows: Song, “Saf Through Week,” full chorus; Scripture recite the young ladies of Minor Hall; invocatio: song, “Jerusalem, the Golden,” full chorus; ‘Lead, Kindly Light,” full choru song, “Abide With M us; song, “Overcoming in His Nam tet, select reading; song, “Saved by full chorus. Professor R. W. White of Wilberforce University lectured before the Christian Endeavor Society Wednesday afternoon. His subject was “The Tyrant of the public.” Professor W. S. Scarborough, professor Greek In Wilberforce University, and I W. E. B. DuBots of the University of Pe sylvania, were visitors at the Univer this week. Dr. J. Rankin, the presiden has returned from Tuskegee Institut: Alabama. American U A gift of $55,000, in in curities and cash, for the endowment ¢ a chair in the College of History, was re- ceived this week. The donor's name ts withheld from publication. Also the trus- tees have received a deed to a rental prop- erty valued at $25,000. And from the of Mrs. Delia 8. Root of Buffalo, N. Y.. 750 was realized, after paying an inherit- ence tax of $1,250. The second number of will the University Courier, the quarterly official publication of the university, has just been issued Georgetown University. The program of the Morris Literary wud Debating Society for its next mecting tn- cludes a debate on the question, “Resolved, That the state should support sectari, school the affirmative, and Mr. Mitchell in the negative. An essay will be read by Mr. Jas. Toomey. Mr. Julius Walsh, the manager of track and field athletics, is enthusiastic on the subject of the dual m to be held with Princeton in the near future. The concert of the Glee, Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar Club on last Monday was a grand success, both musically and tir 2 Joseph Schneider will speak in 2 students thoroughly enjoy: selves at the Mardi Gras Tuesday evening. Captain Joe Kelly of the Raltimore leag team, who is coaching the & ball nine, is much pleased with the showing mede by the men thus far, and says that i town will have a winning team this s+ ed them- entertainment ore University. On Thursday evening Rev. John J. Grif- fin, Ph.D., professor of chemistry, will Jeo- ture on “Epoch Makers in Chemistry.” The lecture will be Mlustrated, both by stereopticon and practically Monday at 4:45 p.m. Carroll D. Wright, LL.D., will lecture on “S¢ onomic Rev. Father Conaty has returned from Philadelphia, where he attended the s ton of Bishop Prendergast, « Dr. Garrigan from Buffalo, wh tended the consecration of 1 ‘aptain Tom Brown of the W: Zz been engaged the tors has be tional Park. - - a Mrs. A. FL. -Grausby of 158 Kerr st, Memphis, “Temn., paid no attention to a stall lump in ber breast, but it soon d into a cance the m nant type. best in trew finally declared her case hopeless. last resort, S. S. S. was giv ment resulted; a few bottles cured her Books on Cancer free; address Swift Spevifie Co., Atlanta, Ga. completely, and no sign of the disease bas returned for ten years. for tired people, hungry people, cold people, sick people, well people. Prepared in a minute, Absolutely pr-vents s SLIPPING ON Snow, Ice and Asphalt, ° ~ Lasteaswell ae Common Shoes, : Costs but a Trifle More. Have them put on your horses, and secure comfort and safety for them and for yourself. agency with 3. B. KENDALL, 618 Pa. Ave. N. We feZi-s, wath 3t