Part 17

"It seems to me," observed Paul sagely, "that Pegasus' box stall is a lot too small for him."

"That's why he is all the time jumping out and running away," explained Uncle Henry. "I told you that we should catch him in the act. He's always at it."

"Pete's had his turn; now I want to find the ram and the little dog," said Paul.

"If you'll wait just a little longer," said Uncle Henry, "I'd like to show Betty the last of the sky ladies, because she's right close to Pegasus."

Paul's face fell a little, but he said, "Ladies first, of course," as any gentleman would.

"I said she was a lady," said Uncle Henry, "but I'm not so sure that she is acting like one. In fact, she is in an attitude that few ladies would like to be seen in, at least not in the plain view of everybody who looks at the sky."

"What's she doing, Uncle Henry?" inquired Betty, in a tone that said, "I guess it can't be anything so very bad."

Betty was herself fond of climbing trees, in spite of motherly disapproval of such tomboy activities.

"She's lying flat on her back, with her arms and legs sprawled out and her head resting against the corner of Pegasus' box stall. I should think it might be very uncomfortable for her, unless she is lying on a pile of hay, for Andromeda has been there a very long time in the same position. The ancient Greeks said that Andromeda was chained to a rock. Let's not have her that way; it would be so disagreeable."

"She's probably asleep and doesn't notice, but we'll give her the hay," said Betty. "There's nobody to tell her not to lie down where she likes. How do we find her, Uncle Henry?"

"First look for her head," said Uncle Henry. "It is the same star we found forming the lower corner of Pegasus' square on the side toward the pole star. Andromeda's feet are just below the W-shaped Cassiopeia. A line drawn from the swan's beak through his tail, and extended across the sky, will reach the stars in the feet. (25) Another line drawn diagonally across the square of Pegasus to Andromeda's head and extended will pass along her body, and farther on, her left foot will be seen just above the line. You see her now, don't you, Betty?"

"Yes," said Betty, "and I think I see her arms."

"All right, draw her in," Uncle Henry encouraged.

Betty did, but didn't think she could draw well enough to outline the sleeping girl, so Uncle Henry did that. Then Andromeda looked like this:

Betty added a few lines to show that Andromeda was lying on a pile of hay, instead of being chained to that hard rock the Greeks insisted upon.

"What is that fuzzy little star just to her right, about at her hip?" asked Paul.

"I'm glad you noticed that," said Uncle Henry. "The astronomers who lived ever so long ago, long before the birth of Christ Jesus, noticed that it looked 'fuzzy,' just as you have, and called it 'the little cloud.' It is now called 'The Great Nebula in Andromeda.' If you looked at it through a telescope you would see that it is not one star, but a great many. Some of them, as astronomers who live now tell us, are as large as our sun."

"Ooh, how wonderful!" said Betty softly, and the boys' faces showed that they thought so, too.

"Some night," promised Uncle Henry, "we'll bring up a little telescope and look at 'the little cloud' again. It is a fine sight."

"Now," said Paul after a moment, "please can I find the ram and the little dog?"

"Certainly," said Uncle Henry. "Just as Canis Major, the bigger dog, follows Orion and belongs to him, so Canis Minor, the littler dog, follows and belongs to the star children, the twins named Gemini."

"Ooh!" exclaimed Betty, "just like 'Rags' belongs to Peter and Paul! We'll call the little dog 'Rags' when Paul finds him."

"Fine!" laughed Uncle Henry, "but I warn you that he won't come when you call him as well as the real live 'Rags' answers to his name."

"Where do I start?" inquired Paul, anxious to have his chance to draw.

"At the feet of the twins," directed Uncle Henry. "Draw a line through their feet and extend it away from the feet of Pollux, in the direction away from Taurus, the bull. (26) At a point about as far away from the foot of Pollux as the height of the twins you will find a bright star, and between it and the foot of Pollux a fainter one. Draw a line to connect them, and you have the little dog's backbone. You can fill in the rest of him any way you like, for those are the only two stars he has in him. I'll tell you one thing, though. The brighter star is at the little dog's tail instead of his head. The opposite was the case with Orion's dog."

The children found the two stars very easily and Paul put down dots of the right size to represent them. Then he drew the outline of the little sky dog, making him an Airedale, as you can see, so that he might be the same as his beloved flesh and blood name-sake "Rags."

"Now that we've found the two dogs, that makes it easy to find Cancer the Crab," said Uncle Henry. "Just draw a line from Sirius, in the Big Dog, through the Little Dog, and extend it almost as far again. (27) That's right. Now what do you see?"

The children searched the sky for some time, and Betty finally said, "Sort of a sprawly bunch of six or eight rather faint stars."