Evening Star Newspaper, February 18, 1923, Page 72

4 Always There Came Back to the Dog the Terror, the Panic, the Agony of That ‘Mistreatment of Long Ago O puppy ever came into the world under more favorable auspices than Comet. He was descended from a famous !'ne of pointers. Both his father and mother were champions. Before he opened his eyer and while he was crawling about over his brothers and isters, blind as puppies are at birth, Jim Thompson, Mr. Devant's kennel master, picked him out “I believe that's the best ‘un in the hunch,” he said. On the day the puppies opened their eves and first gazed with wonder at this world into which they had been vast, Jim stooped down ‘and snapped his fingers. There was a general scampering back to the protection of the mother by all but one. That was Comet. Even then he toddled tward the smiling man, in a gTroggy way, wagging miniature tail. At the age of one month he pointed a butterfly that lit in the kennel yard. “Come here, Janie,” yelled the de- lighted Thompson, who 8 e “Pointed-—the damn little cus: When Jim started taking the grow- pups out of the yard and into the flelds to the side of Devant's great southern winter home, Oak Hill, it was Comet who trayed farthest from the man's protecting care. While at sight of a tree stump or a cow or some other monstrous object his hrothers and sisters would scamper hack to the man. Comet would ven- ture toward it, provided it were no! | 0o far, to see what it was. If a cow he would bark, anxious little velps, to «how how brave he was. Then he would turn and run back—but not until he had first barked. Over and over Jim, speaking of him to his wife—they lpoked after Oak Hill in the summer—would say with conviction “He's goin’ to make a great do 1€ looked as if Jim's prophecy would he fulfilled. Comet grew to be hand- somer than his brothers and sisters. When Jim taught them to follow when he &aid “Heel!” to drop when he eafd “Drop!" and to stand stock still when he said “Ho!" Comet learned more quickly than the others. In every- thing he was favored, even in tem- perament. Now and then he quar- reled with his brothers, who grew fealous of him, and sometimes the quarrel ended in a fight. But the fixht over, he never sulked even if he were beaten, but was a loving brother two minutes afterward. Tlie height he gained quickly. like tall beanpole boys, and. though big, 1is bones were shapely, and the mus- les began to stand out on his lank, handsome body. At six months he was a stripling youth, two-thirds pup. one-third grown dog. Though he still romped with the others, it was plain to the practiced eve that he was dif- forent. Sometimes he lay in the shade a long time and thoughtfully zazed into the distance, dreaming as serious-minded youths dream the world over. But all Comet's dreams were central in flelds of broomstraw, where birds lay hid and in the thrill- inge his nose told him there. At six months he set his first covey of quail. and. though he was trem- hling with the excited joy of one who knows he has found his life's work, Il he remained staunch several minutes. And, though when the birds flushed he chased them. he came quickly and obediently back at Jim's command Everythigg — size, contour, nose, muecle. intelligence, spirit—pointed to a great dog. Yes—Comet was one of the favored of the gods. One day after the leaves had turned red and brown, and the mornings rrown chilly and pungent, a crowd of people. strangers to Comet, came to| the big house at Oak Hill. With them were automobiles, trunks. horses, All this was tremendously exciting. and with noses pressed against the chick- en wire of their vard. Comet and his hrothers and sisters watched these soings-on. Then out of the house. with Thomp- ®on. came a big man in tweeds, and the two walked straight to the curi- ous young dogs. who were watching them with shining eyes and wagging talls. Well, Thompson.” said the blg man, “which is the future champion you've been writing me about?” “Pick him out yourself, Thompson. sir” sald * % % HEY talked a long time, planning the future of Comet. His yard training was over—Thomneon was only yard trainer—and he must be Sent to a man experienced in training and handling for fleld trials. His grade-school days were past. He must go off to college. He must be prepared for the thrilling life of the fleld-trial dog. “Larsen’s the man (o bring him out,” sald the big man in tweeds, who was George Devant himself. “I saw his dogs work in the Canadian der- bles. I like his methods." Thompson spoke hesitatingly, as it he disliked to bring the matter up. “Mr. Devant, you remember, sir, a long time ago Larsen sued us for old Ren, saying the gog was his by rights?" “Yes, Thompson you epeak of it." ‘Well, you remember the court de- ided against him, which was the only thing It could do. for Larsen didn't have any more right to that dog than the Sultan of Turkey. But, Mr., De- vant, I was there. I saw Larsen's face, sir, when the case went against inim. Devant looked keenly at Thompson. “Another thing. Mr. Devant” Thompson went on, still hesitatingly. “Larsen had a chance to get hold of this breed of pointers. He lost out hecause he dickered too long and act- #d cheesy. Now they've turned out to he famous. ‘Some men never forget & thing like that, sir. Larsen's been talking the: pointers down ever since. At least that's what folks tell me. He's staked his reputation on his own breed of dogs. Calls 'em the larsen strain.” “Go on,” said Devant. “I know Larsen's a good Lrainer. But itll mean a long trip for the roung dog. It'll be hard to keep in touch with him, too. Now there's an old trainer lives near here, old Wade Swygert. Used to train dogs in Eng- land. He's been out of the game = ‘ong time—rheumatism. He wants to set Back in. He's all right now. I know he never made » big name, but y / I remember—now there mever was a straighter man than him. Ue's had bad luck—" Devant smiled., “Thompson, T ad- mire your loyalty to your friends, but I don’t think much of your judgment. We'll turn some of the other pupples Il write crate Ccmet must have the best. Larsen tonight. Tomorrow Comet and send him off." Just as no dog ever came into the | world under more favorable auspices, 50 no dog ever had a bigger “send off” than Comet. Even the ladies in the house came out to exclaim over him, and Marlan Devant, pretty, eightedn and a sportswoman, stooped down caught his head between her hand: looked Into his fine eyes and wished him, “Good luck, old man.” In the lv- ing room men laughingly drank toasts to his future, and from the high- columned front porch Marian Devant waved him good-bye as he was driven Off to the station, & bewlldered young dog in a padded crate. Two days and gwo nights he trav- eled. At noon of the third, at a dreary railroad station, in a vast prairie country, he was lifted, crate and all, off the train. A man, tall, lean, pale-eyed, came down the plat- torm toward him “Some beauty here, said the station agent. “Yes,” drawled Larsen in 2 medita- tive, sanctimonious voice. “Pretty to the eve, but he looks scared—er— timid. “Of course le's scared,” protested the agent. “So would you be if T was to put you in some kind of whale of a balloon and ship you off to Mars." The station agent poked his hand through the slats and stroked the young dog’s head. Comet was grate- tul, for everything was strange. He | had not whined or complained on the | trip—but his heart had pounded fast and he had been homesick and be- wildered, And everything Mr. Larsen,” continued to be| strange: the treeless country through which he was driven. a country of vast swells, like a motionless sea; the bald house, the group of red barns, where he was lifted out and the crate door opened: the dogs, setters and pointers, who crowded about him when he was turned into the kennel yard. They eyed him with enmity, these dogs; they walked round and round him with stiffened tatls, but he stood his ground staunchly for a voungster, returning flerce look for flerce look, | growl for growl, until Larsen called | him sharply and chained him to his own kennel. He wagged his tail, eager for triendship, as the man stooped to do | s0. He pushed his nose against the man's kriee, but, recelving no word of encouragement, he crawled with dig- nity into his box. There he lay, pant- ing with the strangeness of it all and wondering. “One of George Devant's pointers” drawled Larsen to his assistant. “Pretty to look at, but—er—timid about the eyes. I never did think much of that breed.” * * ox kK OR days Comet remained chained to the kennel, a stranger in a strange land. A hundred times at the click of the gate, announcing Larsen's entrance, he sprang to his feet and stared hungrily at the man for the light he was accustomed to see in human eyes. But with just a glance at him, Larsen always turned one or more of the other dogs loose and rode off to train them. This he could not understand. Yet he was not without friends of his own kind. He alone was chained up, and now and then another young dog sirolled his way with wagging tall and lay down nearby, in that strange bond of sympathy which is not con- fined to man. At these times Comet's spirit returned; he would want to play, for he was still half puppy. Sometimes he picked up a stick, shook it. and his partner caught the other end. So they tugged and growled in mock ferocity. and then lay down and | lookell at each other curiously. Had any attention been paid him by Larsen, Comet would have gotten over his homesickness. He was no milksop. He was like an overgrown boy off at | college, or in some foreign city, sensi- | tive, not sure of himself or his place in the erder of things. Had Farsen sained his confidence it would all have been different. And as for Lar- sen, he knew that perfectly well. One brisk, sunny afternoon Larsen entered the yowd, came straight to | him end turned him loose So great was his joy at freedom that he did not see the shrewd light in the man's e In the exuberance of his spirit he ran round and round the vard, varking into the faces of his frien Larsen let him out of the yard, mount- ed hie horse and commanded him to heel. He obeyed with wagging tall. A mile or two down the road Larsen turned into the flelds. Across his sad- dle was something the young pointer had had no experience with—a gun. That part of his education Thompson had neglected, or-at least postponed, for he had not expected that Comet would be sent away so soon. That was where Thompson had made a mistake. At the command “Hie on!" the young pointer ran cagerly around the horse, looking up into the man's face to be sure he had heard aright. Some- thing he saw thece made him momen- tarily droop his ears‘and tall. Again there came ovér him the feeling of stangeness, of homesickness, mingled this time with dismay. Larsen's eyes were slits of blue glass. His mouth was set in a thin line. Had Comet seen a different expres- sion, had he received a single word of encouragement. there would have been no calemity that day. If he had trusted the man, he would have with- stood the shock his nerves were about to_receive. But he did not trust this pale man with the strange eves and the hard-set mouth. At a secnod command, though, he galloped swittly, boldly into the fleld. Once he turned for direction and Lar- sen waved him on. Round and round the extensive fleld he circled, forget- ting any feeling of strangeness, every fiber of his being intent on the hunt. appraising eyes. Suddenly to the young dog's nose came the smell, strong, pungent, com- pelling, of game birds. He stiffened into an earnest, beautiful point. Here. over to Swygert if he wants them, but |- Lavsen, from his horse, watched with | tofore, in the little training he had gone through, Thompeon had come up behind him, fushed the birds and THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. O, FEBRUARY 18 made him drop. And now Larsen. hav- ing quickly dismounted and tied his horse, hurried toward him as Thom son had done—except that in Larsen's hand was the gun. The old-fashioned black powder of a generation ago makes a loud explo- slon. It sounds like a cannon com- pared with the modern smokeless | powder used for almost a generation by nearly all hunters. Perhaps it was merely accident that had caused Lar- sen betore he left the house to load his pump gun with black-powder shells. As for Comet, he only knew that the birds rose with a whirr, and that then, above his head, burst an awtul roa almost splitting his ear drums, shock. ing every sensitive nerve, filling him with terror such as he had never felt before. Even then in the confusion #na horror of the noise he turned to the man. ears ringing, eyes dilated. As for Larsen, he declared afterward to others and himself even, that he noticed no nervousness in the dog, that he was intent on]y on getting several birds for breakfast P 'WICE. three times, four times the pump gun bellowed its cannon- like roar, plercing the ear drum shattering the nerves. Comet turned. One more glance backward at a face, pale, exu.‘ant. Then the puppy In him conquered. Tafl tucked, he ran away from that blasting nolse. There is this in fear, that ouce man or dog turns, fear increases. Witness the panic of armies, of theate: audi- ences when the cry of fire is given. Faster and faster from that terror that seemed following htm Comet sped. Miles and miles he ran. Now and then. stumbling over brlars, he elped. His tall was tucked, his eyes crazy with fear. Seeing a farmhouse, be made for that. It was noon hour, and a group of men loitered about the yard. With the ery, “Mad dog!” one ran into. the house for a gun. | When he came out the others told him that the dog was under the porch, and must orly have had a fit. And under the porch, in fact, was Comet. Pressed against the wall In the comparative darkness, the magnificent polnter with the quivering soul eyes gleaming, horro: his ears. Here Larsen found him that after- noon. A boy crawled underneath and dragged him forth. He who had start- ed life favored of the gods, who that morning had been full of high spirit and pride, who had circled his first stil ringing in fleld like a champion, was a shrink- | ing. cringing creature. cur. The men laughed at the spectacle he made. To many people & gun-shy dog isin his terror. a sight for mirth. Perhaps he is_ ‘Certainly he is as much so0 as a dog with a can tled to his tail. But some day nefther sight will be funny to any human soul. As for Larsen, hie kept repeating In sanctimonious t that he had never been moxe aston!shed in his life, though, to thll the truth, he had € a homeless never thought much of tiis breed of | pointers. He was very sorry, he sald, very sorry. But any one peering at him from the bushes as he rode home, a dog with tucked tafl at his horse's heels, would have seen a shrewd smile on his face. And thus it happened that Comet came home in disgrace—a coward ex- pelled from college, not for some vouthful prank, but because he wes yellow. And he knew he was dis- graced. He saw it in the face of the big man Devant, who‘looked at him in the yard where he had spent his happy puppyhood. then turned away. He knew it because of what he saw in the face of Jim Thompson. In ‘the house was a long, plausible letter,explaining how it happemed. “I did everything I could. I never was as much surprised in my life. The dog is hopeless.” As for the other inhabitants of the | big house, their minds were full of the events of the sbason—de luxe hunting parties. more soclety events than hunts; lunche: rved in the woods by uniformed butle: launch rides up the river; arriving and de- parting guests. Only onme of them except Devant gave the gun-shy dog a thoughit. Marian Devant visited waited, panting. | {to see Thompson. I 1923—PART 5 him in bis disgrace. She stooped be- fore him as she had done on t other and happler day and caught his head between her hands. But his eyes did not meet hers, for in his dim way he knew he was not now what he had been “lI dor’'t believe he's yellow—in- side!” she declared and looked at Thompson. Thompson shook his head. “I tried him with & gun, Miss Marian. Just showed it to him. He ran into his kennel.” “I'll go get mine, will run again.” But at the sight of her small gun it all came back. Again he seemed to hear the explosion that had shattered his nerves. The terror had entered his soul. In spite of her pleading he made for his kennel. Even the girl turned away. And as he lay panting in the shelter of his box she knew that never again would men look at 1 don’t believe he 7 as they had looked. nor life be sweet to him as it had been Then came to Oak Till an oif ma He had heen on many seas. had fought in a wars and had settied at last on a truck farm nearby. Somewhere in @ ltfe full of adventure and odd jobs he had trained dogs and horses. His face was lined, his hair white. his eves picrcing. blue and kind. Wade Swygert wae his name. I'll take him if you're going to give him awa¥.” he said to Thompson. Give him away—who had been championship hope! Marian Devant hurried out. She looked into the visitor's face shrewd- ly. appratsingly “Can you cure him?" she demanded. “I Goubt it,” was the sturdy answer. “You will try T try.” “Then you gan have there’s any expense “Come, Comet,” sald the old man. That night, in a neat, humbie house, Comet ate supper placed before him by a stout old woman, who had fol- lowed this old man to the ends of the world. That night he slept before their fire. Next day he followed the man all wbout the place. Several days and nights passed this way, then, while he lay before the fire, old Swygert came in with a gun. At sight of it Comet sprang to his feet. He tried to rush out of the room, but the doors were closed. Finally, he crawled under the bed. MR VERY night after that Swygert got out the gun, until he crawled under the bed no more. Finally, one day the man fastened the dog to & tree in the yard, then came out with 2 gun. A sparfow lit in & tree and he shot it. Comet tried to break the him. And if N dozen | small pond, and on one side the banks are perpendicular. Toward this pond the old man, with the gun, under his arm and the dog following, went Here in the silence of the woods, with just the two of them togethar, was to be 2 final test. On the shelving bank Swygert pickde up a stick and tossed it into the middle of the pond with the com- mand to “fetch. Comet sprang eagerly in and retrieved it. Twice this was repeated. But the third time, as the dog. approached the shore, Swygert picked up the gun and fired. Quickly the®dog dropped the stick, then turned and swam toward the other shore. Here, 80 precipitous wers the banks, he could not get a foot- hold. He turned once more and struck out dlagonally across the pond. Swygert met him and fired. Over and over it happened. Each time, after he fired, the old man stooped down with' extended hand and begged him to come on. His face was grim, and though the day was cool, sweat stood out on his brow. “You'll face the music,” he said, “or Y vou'll drown. Better be dead than called yellow." The dog was growing weary. His head was barely .above water. His efforts to clamber up the opposite bank were feeble, frantic. Yet, cach time as he drew near the shore Swy- gert fired. He was not using light loads now. He was using the regular load of the bird hunter. Time had passed for temporizing. The sweat was stand- ing all over his face. The sternness in his eyes was terrible to see, for it was the sternness of a man who is suffering. A dog can swim for a long time. The sun dropped over the trees. Still the firing went on, regularly, like a minute gun. . . Just before the sun set an ex- hausted dog staggered toward an old man, almost as exhausted as he. The dog had been t0o near death and was | too faint to care for the un that was being fired over his head. On and on he came, toward the man, disre- garding the noise of tho gun. It would not hurt him, that he knew at |last. He might have many enemies, | but the gun, in the hang {rope. All his panic had returned, but | . a8 not one of tehemm“ U'fh;:x‘l.lym:ln(i !the report had mot shattered him as | gwygert sank down a ) that other did. for the gun was load- dr,;’:‘" dog 1a :‘7! gm'l:d LoolaicHE ed light. “Old boy,” he sald, “old bo. Af that. f 1y an | * ter that. frequently the old man| wpoi nihy Comet fay hatore the hot a bird in his sight. loading the fi ces [sun more and more hearily. and each | ¢+ *1 looked straleht into the eves |time, after the shot. coming to him, | % | showing him the bird, and speaking | 2 | to him kindly, gently. But for all that | the terror remained in his heart. | One afternoon Marian Devant, a young man with her, rode over on | horseback. Swygert met her at the | gate. “I don’t know.” he said “whether I'm getting anywhere or not.” | “I don't belleve he's yellow. deep down. Do you?" said Swygert. “Just his ears, I think. They've been jolted beyond what's common. I don’t know how. The spirit is willin’, but the ears are weak. I might deefen him. Punch em with a knife—" R EXT season, Larson, glancing over his sporting papers, was aston- |ished to see that among promising derbys the fall trials had called forth was 2 pointer named Comet. He would have thought it some other dog than the one who had disappointed him so by turning out gun-shy, in spite af all his efforts to prevent, had it not been for the fact that the en- try was booked as Comet; owner, Miss Marian’ Devant; handler, Wade Swygert. Next year he was still more aston- ished to see in the same paper that Comet, handled by Swygert. had won |first place in a western trial, and | was prominently spoken of as a na- | tional championship possibility. As for him, he had no young entries to offer, but was staking everrthing on the national championship, where he was to enter Larsen's Peerless 11, It was strange how things fell out— but things have a habit of turning {out strangely in fleld trials, as well as elsewhere. When Larson reached Breton Junction, where the national chumpionship was to be run. there on the street, straining at the leash held by old Swygert, whor: he usd to know, was a seasoned voung pointer, with a white body. 2 hrown head, and 2 brown saddle spot—the same point- er he had seen two years before turn tail snd run in that terror a dog never quite overcomes. But the strangest thing of all hap- pened that night at the drawing. when, according to the lips taken at random from a hat, it was declared that on <he following Wednesday Comet, the pointer. was to run with Peerless 11 It gave Largen a strange thrill, this announcement. He leit the meeting and went stralghtway to his room. There for a long time he sat pondering. Nest day at a hardware store he bought some black powder and some shells. The race was to be run next day and that night in his room he loaded halt a dozen shells. It would have been a study in faces to wateh him as he bent over his work, on his lips a smile. Into the shells he packed all the powder they could stand, all the powder his trusted gun could stand without bursting. It was a load big enough to kill a bear—to bring down a buffalo. It was a load that would echo and re-echo in the hills. On the morning that Larsen walk- ed out in front of the judges and the field, Peerless II at the leash, old Not 'hat would be running away! aid the girl. . Swygert looked at her keenly, on | his face the approbation of an old man who has seen much. That night Mrs. Swygert told him | she thought he had better give up. It wasn't worth the time and worry. The dog was just yellow. Swygert pondered a “TWhen 1 was a kid' 'he sald at last, long time. “there came up a terrible thunder-} b &1 storm. It was in South Amerlca. was waterboy for a railroad gang,|Slanced around at the “feld)" or and the storm drove us in a shack.]®Pectators. Among them was a While lightnin'.was hittin’ all around, | handsome young woman and with one of the grown men told me it ai- €T to his amazement., George De- ways plcked out bovs with red hair.|‘ant. He could not help chuckling My hair was red. und 1 was little and | IPslde himeelf as he thought of what ignorant. For veurs I was skeered) Weuld happen that day, for once a ol -lightnin'. T never have quite got|8un-shy dog, always a gun-shy dog— over it. But no man ever said I was|that was his experience. el p As for Comet, he faced the straw- field ‘ read; Again he was silent for a while. etache ® gy CORdeNtY, already a sHe E veterdn. Long ago fear-of the gun Then he went on: “I don't seem tof,. o _ Aon ad left him, for the most part. be makin' much headway. 1 admit i 3 4 There were still times when at a re- that. I'm lettin’ him run away as vi ., = port above his head he still trembled far as he can. Now I've got to 8hoot| 4ng ¢he shocked nerves in his ear an’ make him come toward the KUR|gave u twinge like that of a bad himself, right while I'm shootin’ it." | yooen Bye always at the qulet voice Next day Comet was tied up and|ge ¢, it of the old man, his god, he grew fasted, and the next, until he Was|g100qy and remained stanch l:unl and famished. Then, on the! gomg isturbing memory did start afternoon of the third di Mrs. BWY-| within him today as he glanced at gert, Jat hcr. husband's direction,|the man with the other dog. 1t p,l‘uied before him, within reach of his | yeemed to him as if in another and chain, some raw beefsteak. As he|an evil world he had seen that face. started for it, Swygert shot. He drew |y heart began to pound fast and {back, panting, then, hunger getlng|nig tall drooped for a moment. With- {the better of him, started again.|in an hour it was all to come back i Again SBwygert shot. to him—the terror, the panic, the After that for days Comet “ate to|agony of that far-away time. music,” as Swygert expressed it.| He looked up at old Swygert, who “Now.” he said, “he's got to come to- | was his god and to whom his soul ward the gup when he's not even tied | belonged, though be was booked »" the property of Mise Merian Devant. Neot far from Swygert's house s 2° Of the arrangements he could know Swygert with Comet at his side, he | the Life nothing, being a dog. Old Swygert. having cured him, could not meet the expenses of taking him to field trials. The girl had come to the old man's assistance, an assistance which he bad aoccepted only under condition that the dog should be entered as hers, with himself as handler. “Are you ready, gentlemen?’ the Jydges asked. “Ready,” said Larsen and old Swy- gert. And Comet and Peerless II were speeding sway acroes that fleld, and behind them came handlers and Judges and spectators, all mounted. It was a race people still . talk about, and for a reason, for strange things happened~that day. At first there was nothing unusual. It was like any other fleld trial. Comet found birds and Swygert, his handler, flushed them and shot. And so for an hour it went. Then Comet disappeared and old Swygert, riding hard and looking for him, went out of sight over a hill. But Comet had not gone far. As a matter of fact, he was near by, hid- den in some high straw, pointing a covey of birds. One of the spec- tators spied him and ocalled the judges’ attention to him. Everybody, including Larsen, rode up to him, but still Swygert had not come back. They called him, but the old man was a little deaf. Some of the men rode to the top of the hill, but could not see him. In his zeal he had got a considerable dtstance away. Mean- while here was his dog, pointed. * %% F any one had looked at Larsen’ face Ns would have seen the exul- tation there, for now his chance had come—the very chance he had been looking for. It's a courtesy one handler sometimes extends another who {8 absent from the spot to go in and flush his dog’s birds. “I'll handle this covey for Mr. Swy- gert,” said Larsen to the judges, his voice smooth and plausible, on his face a smile. And thus {t~happened that Comet faced his supreme ordeal without the steadying voice of his god. He only knew that ahead of him were birds and that behind him a man was coming through the straw, and that behind the man a crowd of people on horseback were watohing him. He out of the corner of his eye, he saw the face of the advancing man, his soul began to tremble. “Call your dog in, Mr. Larsen.” di- rected the judge. “Make him back- stan Only a moment was lost while Peerless, a young dog himself, came running {n and, at a command from Larsen, stopped in his tracks behind Comet and pointed. Larsen's dogs always obeved, quickly, mechanical- ly. Without ever gaining their con- fidence, Larsen had a way of turn- ing them into finished fleld-trial dogs. They obeyed because they were afraid not to. According to the rules the man han- test the dog’s steadiness when & gun fired over hi 0 specification PARIS, February 1. CENTURY and a quarter ago Humboldt discovered in tropl- cal America that Venus (that is, the planet) wears a halo. It was afterward thought that in the Sunday parade of 5th avenue a one, only “the Easter bonnet hid away the aureole.” Saints and angels among all peo- ples have been portrayed with such halos round their heads, and it was commonly thought that the first artists were iAspired by some one who had actually seen them. Now men of science are coming to think that all of us—saints and sinners—go about all the time with this radiance round our heads, and some think they have found it in scientific observa- tions. This also explains certain ap- paritions which any ome can see if he will travel to the right places and wait for the right hour. The first place. but not the best, is a shakedown in the rude inn at the ‘top of this mountain, which is the highest in central Germany, on the chance of seeing the spectre. This, it was explained to them, was only each one’s own giant shadow projected on the clouds at sunrise or sunset. Usually the conditions were not favorable and the torists trooped down “'sulky and grim” When the spectre was seen there was a sort of rainbow wheel round its head and the happy tourist, asked—without getting any answer— | “Is that, to, a shadow of something T wear around with me?" * ok ok | N\JOW ‘this same giant specire of ourselves, under more favorable conditions, has been observed in many other parts of the world—on AMont Blanc and the Jungfrau of the Alps and, in America on the Sierra Nevada and the Mexican Cordilleras. ,The best place of all is the tropical islands cast of Madagascar.. A Frenchman who observes closely has just con- nected the halo round the spectre's head with certair unknown N-rays which science is still investigating. He sald: “It was seven o'clock in the morn- ing and we had reached the very top of Mount Pouce in the island of Mauritius. (This is in the Indian ocean and belongs to England.) A big silver cloud rolled round us and above us when suddenly the sun jumped up from behind the next peak. We saw ourselves in a shower of sparkling gold-dust. Then, all at once, on the cloud twenty yards away from me, I saw & human form immensely bigger than life—and when I moved it made all my motions of head and cloak and the cane in my hand. I could not see the forms of my com- pahions and they called out that each man was seeing his own and no other, I knew this could be explained by the laws of light—but then T saw had becoms used to that, but when, | dling the dog has to shoot as the | birds rise. This is done in order to plous New York girl might have worn | kthe famous Brocken, with its spectre. | Before the war tourists used to hire| BY SAMUEL A. DERIEUX Who Writes Sympathetically of of a Pointer is made as to the size of the shotgun to be used. Usually, however, small gauge guns wre carried. The one in Larsen’s hands was a twelve-gauge, and consequently large. All morning he hed been using i over his own dog. Nobody had paid any attention to it, because he shot smokeless powder. Biit now, as he advanced, he reached into the left- hand pocket of his hunting coat where six shells rattled as he bur- Two of these he took out into the barrels. As for Comet, still standing rigld, statuesque, he heard, as has been said, the brush of steps through the straw glimpsed a face, and trembled. Bul only for & moment. Then he steadied, head high, tail straight out. The birds rose with @ whirr—and then Wwas repeated that horror,of hisyouth Above his ears, ears that would al- ways be tender, broke & great roar Elther because of his excitement, o because of a sudden wave of revenge or of a determination to make sure of the dog's flight, Larsen had pulled [both triggers at once. The combiped report shattered through the dog's éar drums, it shivered through his nerves, he sank In agony into the straw. Then the old impulse to flee Was upon him, and he sprang to his feet and looked about wildly. But from somewhere in that crowd behind him came to his tingling cars a volce— Clear, ringing, deep, the voice of s woman—a woman he knew—pleading as his master used to plead, calling on him not to run but to stand. “Steady,” 1t sald. “Steady, Comet’ It called him,to himself, it soothed him, it calmed him. and he turned and looked toward the crowd. With the rqar of the shotgun the usual order observed in field trials was broken up. All rules seemed to have been suspended. Ordinarily, no one belonging to “the field” is allowed to , speak to a dog. Yet the girl had/ spoken to him. Ordinarily, the spec- tators must remain in the rear of the judges. Yet one of the judges had himself wheeled his horse about and was galloping off, and Marian Devant had pushed through the orowd and was riding toward the bewildered dog He stood stanch where he was, thougl in his ears was still a throbbing pain, and though all about him wae this growing confusion he could not understand. The man he feared wa< running across the field yonder. in the direction taken by the judge. He was blowing his whistle as he ran Through the crowd, his face terr {to see, his own master was cominz. Both the old man and the girl ha | dismounted now and were running to ward him. “I heard,” old Swygert was sayiis to her. “I heard it! I might known! I might 'a’ know: | “He stoed,” she panted, “like a roci. | —oh, the brave, beautiful thing! | “Where is that—" Swygert sud- |denly checked himself and looked | around. A man in the crowd (they had gathered about now) laughed. _ “Ile's gone after his dog,” he said | “peerlcss has ran away DO WE ALL HAVE HALOS AROUND OUR HEADS? something which I could not alto gether undrestand. * % | ¢61) OUND my head—and not round | the rest of my hody—there was a circle of light a yard in dlameter | Al the others saw the same thing round the heads of their own spectres. No one has et explained it satis- factorily, some saying this halo i an optical fllusion whose mechan is not yet well understood.” This halo round the head—and the head only—is not the same phenom- enon as the well defined border of luminous rays which marks out the entire human form when projected or the clouds of the Brocken. Optica! theory has explained that more o less satisfactorily. It is not the same for the halo or aurecle like a rafrn bow forming a complete circle round the head alone. Swedenborg main- talned that every human being pro- jects from himself an “aura” of his personality and spiritual activity and Balzac worked out this theory in a novel. Spiritualists hold to a like theory. Our Frenchman looking at the yard-wide glory round his head in the apparitions on Mount Pouce recalled certain scientific discoveries which have not yet been finished. oln 1893 Dr. Baraduc thought that he had discovered an emission of rays from the human body and, when he succeeded in photopraphing them he found differences which he dis tinguished as “elactric, vital and psy chic ray In 1913 Prof. Blond lot and Charpentiesr of Nancy thought they had discovered in Crookes' tubes rays which were distinguished from the X-rays of Roentgen by their re fraction. These rays, they found, are most intense near the nerve centrex of the human body. The N-rays have been disputed but not disproved and they have been ! neglected in the immense develon- ment and practical application of other iess elusive rays. The French- man looking at the luminous circle round his head on Mount Pouce now asks—"Is it not & result of N-rays, interfering with the light on the STERLING HEILIG Way of Lightning. I'r has been pointed out in some scientific quarters that the now known facts seem to require & modi- fication of the statement found fu some text books that “it is {mpos- sible to say whether a flash of light- ning moves from a cloud to the earth or In the opposite direction.”” Many ,observations of lightning made in South Africa show that in all cases the dischargeg were from cloud to cloud or from the clouds to the earth. Quite frequently, it is said, the South Africans have observed lightning flashes leaving a cloud for the earth, but fading away before reaching it The opposite phenomenon has mot been observed