A ScientistRises
By D. W. Hall
towered above them.
On that summer day the skyover New York was unfleckedby clouds, and theair hung motionless, thewaves of heat undisturbed. Thecity was a vast oven where eventhe sounds of the coiling traffic inits streets seemed heavy and wearyunder the press of heat that poureddown from above. In WashingtonSquare, the urchins of the neighborhoodsplashed in the fountain,and the usual midday assortment ofmothers, tramps and out-of-workslounged listlessly on the hot parkbenches.
As a bowl, the Square was filledby the torrid sun, and the trees andgrass drooped like the people onits walks. In the surrounding city,men worked in sweltering officesand the streets rumbled with thenever-ceasing tide of business—butWashington Square rested.
And then a man walked out ofone of the houses lining the square,and all this was changed.
He came with a calm, steadystride down the steps of a house onthe north side, and those whohappened to see him gazed withsurprised interest. For he was agiant in size. He measured at leasteleven feet in height, and his bodywas well-formed and in perfectproportion. He crossed the streetand stepped over the railing intothe nearest patch of grass, andthere stood with arms folded andlegs a little apart. The expressionon his face was preoccupied andstrangely apart, nor did it changewhen, almost immediately from thepark bench nearest him, a woman'sexcited voice cried:
"Look! Look! Oh, look!"
The people around her cranedtheir necks and stared, and fromthem grew a startled murmur.Others from farther away came tosee who had cried out, and remainedto gaze fascinated at theman on the grass. Quickly the murmurspread across the Square, andfrom its every part men and womenand children streamed towards thecenter of interest—and then, whenthey saw, backed away slowly andfearfully, with staring eyes, fromwhere the lone figure stood.
There was about that figuresomething uncanny and terrible.There, in the hot middayhush, something was happening toit which men would say could nothappen; and men, seeing it, backedaway in alarm. Quickly they dispersed.Soon there were only white,frightened faces peering from behindbuildings and trees.
Before their very eyes the giantwas growing.
When he had first emerged, hehad been around eleven feet tall,and now, within three minutes, hehad risen close to sixteen feet.
His great body maintained itsperfect proportions. It was that ofan elderly man clad simply in agray business suit. The face waskind, its clear-chiselled features indicatingfine spiritual strength; onthe white forehead beneath thesparse gray hair were deep-sunkenlines which spoke of years of concentratedwork.
No thought of malevolence couldcome from that head with its gentleblue eyes that showed the peacewithin, but fear struck everstronger into those who watchedhim, and in one place a womanfainted; for the great body continuedto grow, and grow everfaster, until it was twenty feethigh, then swiftly twenty-five, andthe feet, still separated, were aslong as the body of a normal boy.Clothes and body grew effortlessly,the latter apparently without pain,as if the terrifying process werewholly natural.
The cars coming into WashingtonSquare had stopped as theirdrivers sighted what was risingthere, and by now the borderingstreets were tangled with traffic.A distant