Then to I. Katz, with the bright eyes and muddy complexion, Luther told
of the wonders he had seen with his own eyes--touched with his own
hands. He described the two soup plates of metal fastened together,
with the mysterious space between--the small chamber which held the
Miracle of Science. And its priceless secret to be theirs! To give some
idea of the power of these two plates he told Katz what happened to
Delos King and his load of hay. Delos King's big load of hay got stuck
in the meadow. The wheels had sunk in the mud up to the hubs. Two yokes
of oxen tried in vain to stir it. Then Cyrus Alton, carrying The Thing
in his hand went down to the meadow, fastened what Delos King thought
were two kitchen plates to the end of the pole, turned the button a
fraction of an inch and drew the big load of hay out of the bog and up
the hill as if it had been a baby carriage!
Moreover, Luther described to Katz his own experience with this device.
When fastened to his chest with straps, that went over his shoulder and
under his arms, he had turned the little button and had been lifted
gently from the floor and he floated at will near the roof of the old
barn.
"But what flabbergasted the old hard heads more than any other one
thing," continued Luther, "was the way Cyrus fixed the weather vane on
the Baptist Church. It had been struck by lightning--bent and twisted.
It's a tall spire and the deacons were trying to figure the cheapest
way of getting up there without a scaffolding, when Cyrus happened
along. 'What's it going to cost you?' he asked. 'Twenty-five dollars
at least,' they said. 'Give me twenty-five,' said Cyrus, 'and I'll do
it before night.' 'It'll take you half a day to get up there either by
rope or scaffolding,' they said. 'I can get up there in one minute,'
said Cyrus, 'after I once start.' At first they laughed, but they
agreed to pay twenty-five dollars. Then Cyrus went home--this was in
the forenoon--came back with his two soup plates; also a hammer, a
monkey wrench and a few other tools. And right there in front of the
crowd, he slung the bag of tools across his shoulders, strapped on the
soup plates, turned a button and rose up in the air like a wingless
angel. Gee! I tell you the deacons stared! Their eyes were wider open
than their mouths!"
"No wonder!" said Katz. "They had reason to be! And did he fix the
vane?"
"Well, rather! It didn't take him an hour."
Luther told of other doings that had startled Longfields; of the
metal contrivance over ten feet long that resembled a fat cigar;
how Cyrus Alton sat inside and, without apparent machinery, rose up
through an opening in the barn and sailed at will, in any direction
and to any altitude. In one evening he had sailed over the whole of
Massachusetts--and more, too.
Then I. Katz, whose bright black eyes had grown brighter and brighter,
asked many questions. All his questions were answered promptly, and so
clearly as to leave no doubt that the tale was true.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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