CHAPTER XXIXWINTER IN THE SAN ANTONES
THE observatory was completed and the telescope sledded to the top of Spyglass Mountain and installed early in the month of January. Winter had set in in earnest, and there was six feet of snow on the gentle slopes about Stirrup Lake. But the homesteaders’ new cabins were snug and tight; they had an abundance of fuel and provisions; so the mountain storms that danced up in fury from the lake and shook the structures to their scant foundations had few terrors for them.
Joshua was so successful in the building of his observatory, with its conical, revolving metal dome, that he wrote an article, entitled “A Home-made Observatory for $300,” and sent it toThe Universe. He had carefully followed instructions in the author’s article that he had among his notes, and had improved on the plans and specifications. It was a proud day when he rode home on Argo from Ragtown and showed Madge his check for twenty-five dollars fromThe Universe.
He had bought a second-hand typewriter, and of evenings, while the building of the observatory was under way, had applied himself to authorship with that tireless energy which already had carried him so far in his studies. And the following spring his article, “Speculations on the Physiology and Anatomy of the Inhabitants of Mars,” which was published inThe American Astronomer, brought him many letters from interested readers, and some of them were men well known in scientific circles. Joshua receivedonly ten dollars for this contribution, but if his check had been for a thousand it could not have given him the pleasure that the letters did. The editors of the magazine commented at length upon the freshness of his work and asked to see more of it, with the result that they accepted, before the publication of his first paper, “Fissures or Canals?—A Study of the Surface Features of Mars,” and “The Atmosphere of Mars.” Then the editor ofThe Journal of Astronomywrote to him and asked him to submit something. After the rejection of two of his articles, “Is Mars a Lifeless Planet?” was accepted; and a check for fifty dollars sent him galloping to Madge on Argo, waving the strip of blue paper like the banner of a conquering hero, as he saw her looking out the window.
Before “Is Mars a Lifeless Planet?” was in press Joshua received a telegram, days late because of the snowdrifts in the mountain gaps that had retarded the mail stage, asking for a companion article of about four thousand words telling who he was, where he had been educated, and describing his work in telescopy. At Ragtown Joshua met California Bill, in from one of his freighting trips, when he received the belated message. California was the more enthusiastic of the two, for Joshua had the true student’s reticence about blowing his own horn.
“Tell ’em all about it, Tony,” urged Bill. “Lay it on thick. Lord, I wish I could write! I’d do it for ye, my son, an’ I’d do ’erhi-yu skookum! An’ don’t forget to say that, out here, ye’re known as Cole of Spyglass Mountain. That’s yer trade-mark. I give it to ye, an’, by golly, ye gotta use it! Go home an’ tell ’em how th’ war broke out.”
So in a whimsical mood Joshua took his friend’s advice. He made it quite clear that he had no degree, even explaining that he had never been to college. He lauded to the skies his boyhood friend, Beaver Clegg, and creditedhim with any success that he—Joshua—might have achieved. He told about his life in the House of Refuge, about his days as a tramp, about Ragtown and the new railroad, and how he had earned the money to buy his telescope and settle on a homestead. He hinted at the idea of the inhabitants of Mars trying to communicate with the earth through the medium of canals laid out in the form of a geometrical figure. He told of Spyglass Mountain and his observatory, and his difficulties in sledding the instrument to the summit. And last of all, to please California Bill, he mentioned that he was known in the community as Cole of Spyglass Mountain.
He gave his brief autobiography no title, and when it appeared in print, preceding his article “Is Mars a Lifeless Planet?” in the March issue ofThe Journal of Astronomy, California Bill’s chest bulged out with pride; for the editor had entitled it “Cole of Spyglass Mountain.”
The Scientist, a New York publication, was editorially opposed to the theory that Mars is inhabited, and they took occasion to draw Joshua over the live coals in their May issue. They admitted that his speculations were interesting, and that they were set forth with grace and power, but they laughed to scorn all of his ideas. They ridiculed his youth and inexperience, and made no bones about throwing in his teeth the fact that he had no reputation whatever as an astronomer and had the stamp of no institution’s approval upon him. The writer was vituperative and insulting, but he did Joshua more good than harm for the reason thatThe Scientific Weeklytook up the controversy in support of him, with the result that “Cole of Spyglass Mountain” became a well-known name among the devotees of science.
And thus it came about that when Joshua’s great night arrived his name was fairly well established, and the scientificworld was ready to weigh his words and give his conclusions serious thought.
By spring Ragtown was reading science. Joshua had become an object of mild ridicule before his first article appeared. Then as the press-agent work of California Bill began spreading the news that Cole of Spyglass Mountain was in print, Ragtown awoke to the realization that they had a celebrity in their midst. He was looked at in awe as he rode in on Argo, with his silvered tapaderos flapping and his bridle-reins a-jingle, sometimes with Shanty Madge beside him on her black. And when winter broke Ragtown made pilgrimage to Spyglass Mountain to see the telescope and view the heavens through its powerful lenses.
But there were two who did not come—Lee Sweet, the cattleman, and Felix Wolfgang, the gambler. And it was known to Joshua that his old enemy of the House of Refuge was still at Ragtown, and that Lee Sweet rode up often from the desert and stayed for days, carousing in The Golden Eagle. Once Joshua came face to face with him in the post office. Sweet glowered at him, swung about on his heel, and dragged his spurs into the barroom.
As spring approached Joshua’s work in the observatory was kept back by the high winds that prevailed, which caused such atmospherical disturbances as to make his patient vigils at the eye-piece a waste of time. To study Mars under these conditions was impossible, even though his telescope was a Brashear and an exceptionally fine instrument to boot. So when atmospheric conditions were at all favorable he devoted his attention to study of the surface of the moon, and to recording the rise and fall in the luminosity of certain variable stars whose exact minimum and maximum periods were not yet fully established. But his chief interest during this period of poor seeing was the search for vegetation on the floors of certain lunar craters,which had often been reported by well-known astronomers.
Patient vigil was also kept in the case of the marvelous craters of Alphonsus and Eratosthenes. On the floor of Eratosthenes, eight thousand feet below the level of the surrounding Sea of Showers, he at last caught a glimpse of what he believed to be the long-sought indications of vegetable growth. In the northern part of the crater-floor a peculiar spot became noticeable soon after the sunlight began to flood this area. Within fifty-six hours the spot had expanded in two winglike regions, and forty-eight hours afterward it had disappeared.
He reported these discoveries to the Milton University, to be recorded and published for the benefit of other students.
It was during this period that Joshua took up the study of optical physics. Beginning his studies with the few classical treaties he had among his books, he soon was wholly absorbed in the mysteries of lens-making, crystallography, stellar photography, the tele-microscope, and other modern developments along similar lines of research and experiment. So he ordered by mail copies of any works which might have been published during the past three years by authorities on any of these phases of his study, leaving the matter of selection to the discretion of a well-known New York dealer in works of science. Also he bought a number of tools and a diverse assortment of materials for experimental purposes.
Although he had come into possession of a telescope of remarkable defining power, owing to the superior quality of its object glass, he realized that its light-getting power was unequal to the task of showing fine detail on so distant a body as Mars. So, with his new tools and material and his added knowledge to aid him, he set bravely to work to devise some means of increasing the power of his telescope by some kind of accessory apparatus, applied either to theobject glass or to the eye-piece. Some such instrument already had been invented and was then in use for special research work on the stars. Why should he not be able to work out some device of equal or even greater efficiency for observation of the planets—especially Mars?
During the winter months, then, he acquired, with indefatigable application, all of the information available on the subject of his investigations. On this solid theoretical foundation he made experiment after experiment, seeking always to discover some type, quality, or combination of lenses, color screens, or other apparatus that would bring him nearer his goal. Some improvement was finally effected, but the advantage gained was not equal to his requirements. Though somewhat discouraged by the meager results, Joshua persevered, often going so far as to make attempts contrary to the principles laid down in the advanced textbooks he had read. In such efforts, however, it seemed that he always failed to advance his cause. But he realized that ultimate success lay in breaking new ground. No mere improvements on existing instruments could serve his purpose. He must explore new regions, devise a new method, just as so many tenacious pioneers had done before him.
To describe the many devices employed by him would form a tedious narrative, comprehensible only to a thoroughgoing student of optical physics. But before spring arrived he had succeeded in constructing an instrument which, attached to the eye-end of the telescope, projected a greatly enlarged image of Mars on an adjacent screen. Or by employment of a suitable color screen laid over his object lens, a camera system could be used, photographing the enlarged image, which then could be studied at leisure. This was a decided advantage, for clear images of the planet’s surface, even with the newly devised accessory instrument, were obtainable only during brief moments ofatmospheric quietude. Consequently his hopes soared high.
And now Joshua was ready for the momentous day in June, when he hoped to make the great discovery which would prove to the scientific world that there was active, intelligent life on the planet Mars.
Shanty Madge had been his close companion throughout the winter months. Often of clear nights she climbed with him to the summit of Spyglass Mountain, where she sat by the little air-tight heater and read or sewed while he worked at his various problems. The operations of Montgomery and Applegate had ceased for the winter, and Jack Montgomery was out of the mountains, so that Madge saw nothing of him at all. Often she and Joshua rode horseback together, exploring the remote parts of the valley and its surrounding hills and cañons. Together they went on snowshoes to Ragtown for the mail, Joshua ahead and breaking trail, Madge keeping the pace with the customary vigor of her splendid youth.
Then the long winter broke, and the ice gave up its grip on the lake with explosive lamentations. The saltgrass showed a tinge of green, and tiny starlike flowers modestly showed their faces here and there. Then Shanty Madge hooked up a team and began plowing and building fence, with the keen spring wind on her Indian cheeks. And as the winds made astronomical observations next to useless, and since he was not required to do any work on his homestead for six months or more to come, Cole of Spyglass Mountain decided to go East and unravel the mystery that surrounded him. Also he wished to try and make up with his brother Lester, whom he still loved with that rare devotion that he was capable of. If Lester was not doing well, he hoped to persuade him to return with him to California and throw in his lot with him on the homestead.
But at this point Felix Wolfgang took a hand.