Mechanic Arts High School - Artisan Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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14 THE ARTIS-AN They approached the great. iron-studded gates which bore the name of the place, and it was with some surprise that they found them slightly ajar. That's luck! whispered Blinky. Unless those Brownies have got here ahead of us! he added as an afterthought. They pushed open the gates and found themselves looking upon a stretch of grassland, surrounded by four tall Walls. It was as bare and open as a football field, and the sight brought a choking gasp of amazement to the throat of Blinky Jones. Lookit! he choked. The house ain't here. It's gone-it's vanished ! Trooper Ted VVeston turned suspiciously on his companion. You've been trying to fool me, he snapped. I ainlt-l swear I ain't! retorted Blinky hotly. There's the name on the gate, and just behind me is the tree I climbed up. lf you'll go up the tree you'll find a bit of my pants what was caught on a broken branch. The house was here then, I swear it was!', he went on vehemently. t'How it's vanished I don't knowg but it has gone, and that's a fact P' But houses can't vanish, insisted Ted. Ulf this one had been here when you looked over the wall, it would be here now ! No, it wouldn't. ,cause it ainitj' protested Blinky. I'm afraid that your yarn about stone houses and Hindu and Burmese won't go, Jones, said Ted. Still, while we're here, we may as well take a look aroundii 'flu what part of the grounds do you think that you BHW the house, Jones? asked Ted suddenly. Right bang in the center I declared Blinky emphatically. Ted Weston strode forward through the dim light, and Blinky went with him. Right in the center of the field Ted stopped. There's a large, square patch of turf in the center of this iield which is different from the other grass, he remarked. It looks as though it has been just freshly laid. I wonder-- He ceased speaking suddenly as his ears detected a sound. Instantly he dropped to the ground and pressed his ear to the grass. He could hear a strange, murinuring hum! And then like some enormous elevator, the ground beneath him rose so swiftly that by the time he had scrambled to his feet, he and Blinky were standing upon a large, grass-covered platform which was now some forty feet in the air.

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TIIE A RTISAN 13 Not as much as a dog, answered Blinky. I saw the house, though, and a bum-lookingplace it was-ugly and square, just like a big chunk of stone with windows in it. t'And as you failed to attract the notice of anybody in the house, you set otf to tell somebody else ot what you had heard ? 'That's it,', agreed the co11vict. f'And when you came tearing along the road I called to you-and got knocked oft? me pins for my trouble I 'Tm sorry about that, said XVeston. But tell me, Jones, are you quite sure that you haven't invented this story VVhy, I ain't got the brains to think up a yarn like that, protested Blinky. No, it's the truth I'm telling you-the whole truth and nothing but the truth! Them three Hindus, or they might have been Burmese XVallahsg I ain't sure of that, they means dirty workll' Ted paused for some moments. Obviously, his first duty was to capture Blinky Jones and see him placed safely under lock and key. Against this was his own natural impulse to tind out if there was any truth in the man's strange story, and having sized up Blinky, he was inclined to believe' that an early visit to Lonesome was quite desirable. Look here, Jones, he said suddenly. If I take you back with me to 'Lonesomej you'1l have to be on trust. If anything happens which causes me to take my eye otf you, you Won't beat it? Not me, answered the convict fervently. I've had enough playing 'cops and robbers' for the past day, and all I asks is to be set safely back in the 'big house to finish out me time in comfort. O. K. Now, show me the way to 'Lonesomej and if any good comes of your information tonight. I can promise that you Won't lose by it. They set ofli across the marshland, and the black mare, now as docile as qypet, walked behind them. For some time they con- tinued over thc 'rolling, wind-swept marshland, and then the moon, breaking through the racked clouds, revealed to them the tall, gray walls of t'Lonesome. That's the place, whispered the convict. Did you ever see anything like it? Looks as if the guy that owns it killed someone and is locking himself up i11 his own jail for it 977 77 177 Q

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THE ART I SAN 15 'COW mv hat! was med Blinkv the house has risen out of 7 -1 25 L 7 the ground and now we're on the roof ! AT Tm: Srnoiiu or MIIJNIGHT LINKYS startled expression was the true one. The square house, with its fiat, grass-covered roof, l1ad been raised out of the ground by some ponderous and power- ' ful machinery concealed inside. Just as easily it could be lowered again until its roof was level with the rest of the ground. This is a mechanical marvclll' exclaimed Ted ungrudgingly. The whole house is made of steel plates painted to resemble stone, and the power which moves it must be tremendous. But what for? asked Blinky. Who wants a house that goes up and down like the mercury in a thermometer? That,s what I should like to find out, said Ted, Who was peering out over the edge of the roof. Jones, there's a Window just below here, and it should be easy to enter it. Pm going to try re Ted led the way, and he had no difficulty in lowering him- self over the edge of the roof onto the sill. This done, he broke the window, released the lock and opened the steel-framed sash. He crawled inside and leaning from the open window, helped Iilinky to enter. We'll go downstairs and try to find the owner of this place, said Ted. -Ulf his name is Lane, we'll be able to warn him that those Eastern men are out to kill him-if they haven't already done so. Together the pair proceeded to cross the room, and as they came within a few feet of the door, several snaky coils of wire, heavily charged with electricity, fell upon them! For the next few hours, Trooper Ted Weston and Convict No. 1167 were un- conscious. When Weston came to his senses, he observed that he was in a chamber which looked like an ele.ctric control room, and standing near him were a girl and a gray-haired, elderly man. Uncle, hets awake,', said the girl. Trooper, accept my apologies, said the elderly man com-