Part 12

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?"