Stand By

, moth-eaten strips of carpet, and a tangle of ancient harness. Lee Renaud, spider webs draping his black hair and t

were pads of some kind of fur, now worn to a few stray hairs and bits of hide. The circle of glass turned on an axis of wood which passed thr

g. Glittering in the dim sunlight that filtered into

tition. King's Cove had been aristocratic in its past. A fringe of rotting, semi-roofless "big houses" up beyond the cove testified to the long-gone past when a settlement of rich folk had set out great orange orchards and camphor groves in that strip of South Alabama that to

sh moss, the bit of sea that indented his land. He preferred remaining in poverty to moving elsewhere and beginni

leg. And Lee Renaud had been sent down by

already at work. This vacation, Lee had counted on his first steady job, work at a garage. But because he was

e lamps; no automobiles, only wagons drawn by lazy, lanky mules or by slow oxen; homemade boats on the bay and bayou; Uncle Gem's great tumble-down old house where Pompey, the negro

, Tony Zita, one of the fishing folk, and other lanky youths, barefooted and in faded overalls, seemed to have no particular interest in life save to lounge on boxes in front of the store and spit tobacco juice into the dust. Sometimes when Lee

man with his sideburns, his chin-whiskers, his long-tailed

rage room, his questions about the strange crystal wh

old-time 'lightning maker.' My brothers and I had a tutor, one Master Lloyd, a Welshman, and a very conscientious, thorough little m

d he-co

Gem nodded e

that he had always just taken it for granted-electricity for lights, cars, telephones. And yet he

hold power-or rather m

electricity with it?"

ght. I could show you-ouch! Confound that leg!" In his interest in electricity,

! Pompey and I can car

ttered storehouse. Then Pompey departed for his kitchen, muttering under his breath, "Glad to get

other folks around here too that are superstitious about this busines

ore to be done than one might think for, and so little with which to do the repairing. Propped in his chair, old Gem direct

d once been set with rows of sharp wires like the teeth of a comb. Most of these were missing now, and Lee spent the bet

aten pads of fur

zled Lee. "That's a

book of science, we studied as boys, explains it, if I can just remember. It was something a

, since fur was used on this contraption at first, fur is what we better

ns tacked to old Pomp's cabin door. And no

is best silk necktie, "how about

guiling. The negro hesitate

ake along them skins, but please, sir, don't connect me in no way with

he fur and nailed these on the four blocks of wood that had held the original fur pads. Then he fixed the blocks back in their places

ready to test out the ancient "lightning maker." Great-uncle Gem sat erect and eager in his chair. Pompey stood in a far corner, ho

othered him with it

s, whirl of the wh

metal points set so close to the revolving disc. His hand was still

ctricity-like those old experimen

was that Lee Renaud felt a bullet almost scorch across his face, and heard it thud viciously against a wall. Pomp's

footsteps made off