IN WHICH A DOLPHIN WITH AN EAR FOR MUSIC SAVES A POET’S LIFE—AND UNCLE HENRY PUTS TWO BIRDS IN ONE POEM

During the next day Peter and Paul had seen a blue-racer in the grass, and, with Rags’ assistance, had chased it off into the woods behind the cottage.

So it was only natural for Peter to ask Uncle Henry whether there were any snakes among the star creatures.

Uncle Henry had said, “Two,” and promised to show the children a very big one, and an old man having a struggle with it besides.

Peter and Paul were expectantly waiting on the sand when Uncle Henry and Betty came down from the porch that evening after dark.

“Now,” said Peter, “where’s the snake, Uncle Hen?”

“We’ll begin with his head,” said Uncle Henry. “Everybody find the northern crown, or Virgo’s necklace, and Hercules’ club. Now look just between them and you will see five stars in a sort of little cross, quite close together. Get that?” (15)

The children soon found all five and put down little stones to represent them on the sand.

“All right, then; now trace a line from star to star, down toward Scorpio, and then across toward the archer, and then up in the direction of the swan. That line is the Serpent. It is writhing in the hands of Ophiuchus, the old man who is called ‘The Serpent-bearer.’ His head and Hercules’ head are only a little way apart. Look for a bright star just east of the bright one in the head of Hercules and you will have the head of Ophiuchus. Then look where his shoulders would naturally come and you will see two stars close together in each shoulder. Find them?”

The children did, and placed pebbles for the head and shoulders of Ophiuchus.

“Now,” said Uncle Henry, “draw two long lines down from the shoulders, through the Serpent and beyond, and you will have the old man’s body, legs and feet. One foot is just in front of the archer’s bow; the other is just above the red heart of Scorpio. You will have to imagine his arms, and his hands holding the serpent while it squirms.”

When all the pebbles were down and all the lines were drawn, Ophiuchus and the serpent, or Serpens in Latin, looked like this:

“Are there any more snakes, Uncle Hen?” inquired Paul expectantly.

“Yes, a sea-serpent made of very faint stars,” said Uncle Henry, “but he is rather hard to trace out and the only other creature I have left now that is anything like a snake is a dolphin, or porpoise, and he isn’t much like one. We’ll find him, anyway, and then if you prefer to make a sea-horse out of the dolphin, or Delphinus, as you would say in Latin, why go ahead and do it. The animals in Starland are very obliging. They will turn into anything you like to see in them.”

“Where is the dolphin, Uncle Henry?” asked Betty.

“Well,” said he, “draw a line through the beak of the swan and the arrow, or Sagitta, and it will strike Delphinus. (16) The arrow is about halfway between the swan and the dolphin. See it?”

The children soon found the dolphin and mapped his skeleton with pebbles. Then Uncle Henry put it to a vote of the Society of Star-Gazers whether Delphinus should be finished up as a dolphin or a sea-horse. The vote was two to one for the sea-horse.

Uncle Henry drew a sigh of relief; he didn’t know quite what a dolphin looked like, and he had seen a picture of a sea-horse in the dictionary only the day before. So Delphinus turned out to look like this. If you insist on having him a dolphin, why draw him differently yourself:

“I wonder,” said Betty thoughtfully, “who rides the sea-horses. Do the mermaids, Uncle Henry?”

“I don’t know about the mermaids,” he answered, “but I do know that an ancient poet and musician, named Arion, was saved from drowning by riding to shore on a dolphin. It was like this:

“Arion had gone from his home on the island of Lesbos to Italy, and while there had made a great deal of money by his singing.”

“Just like Caruso in New York,” exclaimed Paul.

“Yes,” said Uncle Henry, “and also like Caruso, Arion decided to go home for a visit. Well, on the way to Lesbos the sailors decided to murder Arion and get all the money he was taking home with him. He had gone on a regular pirate ship you see. The pirates were all ready to kill Arion, but he begged so hard to play just one little melody on his lute before he died that the pirate sailors said, ‘Yes, he might play just one.’ You would hardly believe it, but the melody that Arion played was so catchy and tuneful that it attracted a number of dolphins, who began to dance and turn somersaults about the ship. Then Arion watched his chance—and jumped over-board—and one of the friendly, music-loving dolphins carried him back to Lesbos on his back.”

“My, but I’m glad he got away from those awful pirates!” cried Betty with heartfelt fervor.

“It’s too bad the horrid sailors got his money after all,” said Peter. “If they hadn’t he might have got something nice for the dolphin to eat when he got to that place where he lived.”

“The dolphin fared better than that,” Uncle Henry assured the children. “It pleased the sea god Neptune so much to have one of his creatures save a poet’s life that he had that dolphin put in the sky among the stars, and we see him there now as the constellation Delphinus.”

“What’s next?” demanded Peter when the story of Delphinus was finished.

“The next three,” said Uncle Henry, shaking his head sadly, “are the last.”

“The last?!!” chorused the Society of Star-Gazers incredulously.

“Well, maybe not absolutely the last,” admitted Uncle Henry, “but the last for this Summer. There is a whole dozen more of the Star People in our northern sky, but we can’t see them until next Winter.”

“Why?” inquired Betty anxiously.

“It’s a long story,” said Uncle Henry. “Sometime I’ll tell you all of it, beginning with the fact that the pole of the earth always points to the north star, where the little bear’s tail is fastened, you remember. I promise to show you all the rest of the star animals and people when I come home for my Christmas vacation. Will that do, if I show you a wonderful eagle to-night—and a sea goat and a water carrier to finish up with?”

The children were disappointed, but they trusted Uncle Henry. He wouldn’t stop showing animals and people until he had to; they all knew that.

Peter said,

“We’ll have a whole dozen to look forward to next Christmas. Sort of a present from Uncle Henry. Come on, Uncle Hen, let’s find the eagle and the sea goat and water carrier!”

The others agreed with Peter.

“The eagle, or Aquila,” said Uncle Henry, “is easy to find because of a very bright star, called Altair, which is right in his neck. You will find it near the arrow, or Sagitta, between the end of the serpent’s tail and Delphinus. (17) Does anybody see Altair?”

“I do,” said Betty, “it’s right between two other stars that aren’t so bright.”

“Right,” said Uncle Henry. “Put down pebbles to represent all three, Betty, and we’ll find the rest of the eagle, or Aquila, as it would be in Latin.”

When the three pebbles were in place they stood in this relation to Sagitta and Delphinus:

“Now,” said Uncle Henry, “draw a line downward through the three stars and a little more than twice as far again and what do you see?”

“Another star,” said Paul.

“Put it in,” said Uncle Henry, “and then draw another line from the upper of the first three stars in the direction of the handle of the ‘milk dipper’ in Sagittarius, the archer. Continue this about four times the length of the line that joins the first three stars together and you will find two fairly bright stars close together. That’s right, Paul; put in the star you find about halfway down the line, too. Now draw a line from the two fairly bright stars back in the direction of the tail of the sea-horse, or Delphinus, until it almost meets the first line you drew. There you will find another fairly bright star. Now it is easy to finish the eagle’s skeleton.”

When the eagle’s skeleton was finished Peter thought it looked more like a big arrowhead than an eagle, but when Uncle Henry had drawn the outline of Aquila, the Society of Star-Gazers admitted the resemblance to the bird.

“Now where’s that sea goat?” inquired Peter.

“Follow the line of the first three stars we found in Aquila downward, and just a little way beyond where it ends in the tip of the eagle’s wing you will see two rather faint stars, close together. (18) They are at one corner of a ‘cocked hat’ such as you make out of newspaper when you play soldier—sort of a Napoleon’s hat. It is upside down. When you find it and put down pebbles for stars I’ll show you how the good imaginations the ancient people had turned the cocked hat into a sea goat.”

This shows how Capricornus the sea goat looked when the children and Uncle Henry had finished him. I leave it to you to decide whether or not he looks more like a cocked hat.

“When we have found Capricornus the sea goat,” said Uncle Henry, “it is easy to find Aquarius or the water carrier. Just prolong the line that connects the goat’s right foot with his tail until it runs close to a little triangle of three stars with another in the centre. (19) It looks a little like the head of the Serpent we found squirming in Ophiuchus’ hands, but it is the water-jar Aquarius is carrying.”

“Oh, I see it,” cried Paul.

The other stars in Aquarius were soon found and represented by pebbles. Then Uncle Henry drew the outline that finished the Water-Carrier, like this:

“Now we’re all through?” inquired Betty.

“Until next Christmas,” smiled back Uncle Henry.

“Can’t we have just one more poem?” teased Paul.

“What shall it be about?” asked Uncle Henry, with the air of a man who could write a poem to order on any subject.

“One about the lovely swan,” commanded Betty, “you haven’t made one up about the swan.”

Uncle Henry was in a quandary; he wanted to please everybody with the last poem. He lay down on his back and looked up at the sky for so long that the children thought he must have fallen asleep.

Finally Uncle Henry began to recite,

“What’ll Gabriel blow?” inquired Peter when the hand-clapping had stopped.

“His trumpet, of course, silly!” answered Betty for Uncle Henry.

Just then the children heard a toot from an automobile horn that they all recognized, and the Society of Star-Gazers raced with Uncle Henry back up to “Seven Oaks Cottage.”

“Sister” and “the Children’s Father” had come back from their trip and had surprised everybody.

The summer sessions of the Society were over.