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$109.00 _ PRIZE Stories $190.00
The fol Mowing conditions wili here the
guard 1g of cash Mazen for Nutshell ‘Sorte void the
muscripts of such writers only as hare complied
au these regu “ements will receive consider:
‘All the necessary particulars being Reve clear! rly set
forth, it will be useless for any one to seck further ir
formation or personal favors fy, addressing the editor,
@s such letters cannot bé ai
1. Only persons who are ~
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“Comfort? and who send wil
theg contain plainly noted Inereon in
writer's full name and ad: with nom de ‘plume Had
sired; must on on one side of the paper ently,
addressed to EDITOR NUTSHELL STORY CLUB care oF
Comrorr, AvcusTA, MAINE,
pods Bilitories must deatrictly original with the contribu-
may trite upon any subvert, whether based Ws
Fact, Tieey or fiction—of adventure, lore, war, peace, o
sity or country life, oof expersences on land or srahit
so story must ain more than 2,000 or less than 1,000
oF
LL BE RETURNED UNDER ANT
SHOULD THERE+
eive $30
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task: "Remiliances will be sen by check as soon as aicards
Aare been nyse.
© preminme wilt be given for suserion sent in
wader this Short Srary Prize 0
‘The Publishers of “Comfor0” reserve
ehase at their esiablshed rates any Merit venlicd
under the foregoing offer, which failed to secure a pr:
An Adventure in a Jungle Dak-
Bungalow... .
“Waittes ror Comrozt By Cas. Epwp. BARNs.
«Copyright, 18%, by The Gannett & Morte Concern.
" EYLON, according to the Bud-
dbist scriptures, was the true
and original Garden of Eden.
name, the lavish gifts of Na-
gutting v5
An Eagle's Wing
verdure clinging to the mountainside, over
bridges that span vast torrents, skirting the
edges of bottomless canons infected with cheet-
ars and buge reptiles, till I burst suddenly
upon the magnificent plateau of Newer Ellia,
yy Which looked like » vast bouquet of wild-flow-
ers, with the cloud-mantled peaks rising on all
sides
Tt was here that I was the guest of a German
baron who had given up his life to the study of
the fauna and flora of the island, and who was
avery peculiar man. I liked him immensely,
but it was always necessary to maintain a sort
of distance; forone never knew when he would
raw forth a fonr-foot snake from his coat tails,
oranest of scorpions from his cork helmet,
and tell yout-tl about them.
Such friends are Interesting to talk toover
a telephone, or a stone wi
“One morning the Baron said that he would
take me to the top of old. Pedaratalagala—a
very high mountain, as you may judge by
standing the name on end.
We started fn good season, reaching the pin-
nacle an hour earlier than expected. The
Baron always took three hours foran hour’s
journey, the two hours for filling his helmet,
bags, and pockets with ‘bectles, tarantulas,
lizards, snakes, and all the rest of the things
people are supposed to see only about mid-
night after a mince-pie supper.
Bat Oh, the view was magnificent! (When
the Nutshell Club ceases to limit us to 1,500
Jeust | ords I will tell you ali about it.)
The Baron went to work with his barometres,
thermometres, zrometres, pentametres, hexa-
metres, and gas-metres, while I took in the
glory of the scene which was thrilling beyond
description. Word-painting, however, is too
much like canned strawberries; 80 I will con-
fine myself to events.
” We had a lunch on the ledge, and thea the
Baron resumed his work.
“When you see & little white cloud gathering
away down the valley yonder, call me and we
will go below!"
did as I was told, then went to sleep over it.
It must have been hours later that I heard
the Baron's cries. “Hol a little more and you
would have locked us in here for the night.
Don't you see the mists gathering yonder?”
“But it is early,” said I, glancing at my watch.
“We don't tell time by the watch here, man,”
he replied, gathering up his packs.’ “Whe
the mints rise it is might, if ts but twoo'clock
P.M, for one cannot see one’s hand before the
face. Come; I fear we are caught as it is!”
. The thought of being made prisoner in 9
”
around was anative dak-bungalow
used by pilgrims who go to the peaks for wor-
ship, like the Magians of old, balf way down.
“If we reach that we shall do well,” said the
tare to this little island fit it
for the honor. ' It is one series
‘of picturesque and tropical
surprises, from the coral shore
tothe cloud capped mountain
peak
ascended by elephant
through the vast avalanches of |
r
| banyan."
Baron. “Otherwise we roost in the crotch of a
I struggled on over the dificult way in sil-
ence, now sometimes losing sight of my leader,
“now at his heels again.
upon the little dak— miserable enougb sort of
bivonac thatched with palm, floored with
baked mud, with here and there a cocoanut
Suddenly vee came | #07
[ol
{Oe
—- —) vey
ce
ic
wey me
mat. A couple of ‘swarthy Cinghalese, with
thing is better than nothing, I argue
I wore a pair of raw silk o etnoows, which I
had brought all the way from Japan. “Although
they bad turned from an unassuming gray toa
bilious yellow in the tropic heat, they were
yery comfortable.
There were two rooms inthe bungalow, upon
the rush couches of which one could lie awake
and watch the stars through te rents in the
thatching, 6r catch the raindro}
ee
oe
Se i Eanes
ble frog’s-legs in taste, though it is a creature
without wings, feet, or fins. Green cocoanut
milk and arrack—a drink made from the cocoa-
nut bud—refreshed us. -
natives were servilely polite, probably
yenerating the man who will allow a tarantula
and # scorpion to fight out @ long-time grudge
npon a shiny bald spot under his cork helmet.
Bo did I ~ tl
‘We sat smoking after supper, when I noticed
two cadaverous-looking natives. conversing
stealthily in the doorway. They clearly meant
business of some kind. I hin’ ted S much to
the Baron, who glanced up an
“I dink maybe dey vant dose Pants!” he said
with a twink!
isat down "aod tried to follow the scientist
T rose higher.
neath it.
through the mazes of his calculations.
and again the villains retarned, always with the
Again
same gestures, and mysterious movements,
soon to disappear in the mist which cloaked
about us like a funeral/pall.
At last we retired, the Baron taking the right,
myself the left, wing of galow.
pounding a groove in the rash pillow to fit my
head, like # chop-block, I put my pistols under-
neath, and laid down rather thankfal that T
was not swinging ina tree-top some thousand
feet above.
The window, out of which Teould have stepped
to the ground, was ecurtainless, and ¢ n | it to the light,
lit up the dense mist with an effect
strangely weird and ghost-like, and the moan
of the cheetars, and night bird cries added to
the sense of lonelinesa ‘
on a wire.
twenty paces many
that I could not bit a whale at ten. The he:
was bodyless; I could see the thin gray line of
light beneath it. I tried to collect my thoughts,
but confess myself cowed.
Suddenly the head disappeared, and I began
to breathe again.
‘An instant later, however, another head ap
peared, turning from left to right, surveying
the room exactly as the first.
PUBLISHED. BY*,> (
e (ANNETT & MORSE CONCERN
“AusuSTA ME
qin nT
temples. I reached for
Thad slmost succeeded in coaxing slumber
when the little window at the end of the room
was opened by an unseen hand.
and steaks from. the tic polonga, which resem-| For a moment @ fear possessed me, as the
damp chill of the mountain mist swept in like
ghouls from the under world. Suddenly I was
stunned by the sight of a head rising slowly
from behind the sill, turning from
left, surveying all points of the room
blood whizzed to my
right to
aken a dime at -
a time, but was now sure
ad
Ah, that head had a pair of shoulders be-
Then came a pair of black hands on
the sill, then arms, then a big, broad naked
bosom, then a pair of swarthy
legs, and before
I could realize it the villain was actually in the
room, noiseless as a phantom.
T clutched my weapon.
Had he approached the bed, 1 should not
have hesitated; but he slid off to the right, and
crept like aserpent up to the rush chair upon
which hung those raw silk pantaloons.
I leaped from my couch, and made a dash for
him. With a gasp of fright the fellow grabbed
the prize just asI struck himon the back cf
the'neck with the flat of my hand; but as the
my hand slid the {nll length of his back, and I
fell head over heels in the corner.
When I woke from this last surprise the fog
bad swallowed up my captive, and I was alone.
Exhausted, enraged, I lighted the taper end
made an exploration?
My left hand was covered with blood, for
heavy ring, being turned in, had torn the length
of his back. I slipped through the window into
the thick mist, finding the contents of my poc-
kets strewn along so that I could have traced
him half a mile.
my
I could not see the ground,
Suddenly my
It w:
but felt around with caution.
hand clutched ahead of hair,and I held on.
To my surprise it did not struggle, and I lifted
as @common skull refurn+
—_,
did not
ished with hair, with cotton eyes, and mounted
Ab, acleverrase! He thought that if I were
awake I would shoot the dummy. if I
——
Se
