Page:Frances Shimer Quarterly 1-1.djvu/13



THE FRANCES SHIMER QUARTERLY "My name," said he further, "is Prof; I am come from the land of Honor, beyond Achievement; my mission is to guide all pilgrims to the mountains in the far distance. But, indeed, though 1 have helped many, yet despite my aid, as many are lost on the way."

Grind now looked closely at his companion, and perceived him to be an old and wrinkled man, and one who wore an appearance of deep learning, with spectacles fastened so firmly upon his nose that they seemed to have grown there, and a folio in his right hand. In his left he held a cord by which he led a tiny puppy. The dog was indeed little and weak, but for all that he showed his teeth and snapped unceasingly at Grind's heels.

Their way lay through a colorless plain, the vegetation of which was only a rough, prickly brush.

Suddenly Prof roughly seized his companion's shoulder and jerked him quickly backward. Grind looked up in anger, but, following Prof's pointing finger, saw before him a deep chasm, from the bottom of which came faint groans.

"Ah!" said Prof in a deep whisper, "I have but saved you from the Chasm of English Literature, into which many fall and perish yearly!"

Meantime Grind observed a curious fact. The puppy, which was so small at the beginning of the journey, had been growing larger and longer, and more fierce as his size increased; soon, to Grind's great alarm, he was changed into a most ugly monster—a dragon—which Grind recognized as the much-feared "Exams," a creature of whom he had been warned by his companions in the valley.

The dragon rushed forward; Grind braced himself, and drew his pen from his penholder, but the point was snapped in twain, and Grind was left defenseless.

Very astonishing to hear, Prof, the companion who had seemed to be so friendly, stood off from the fray smiling; nay, he even applauded with excited words his faithful pet.

Grind, having been weakened by his many months of toil, after only a slight resistance, was gobbled up into the cavernous mouth of the monster; and the last Prof saw of his erstwhile companion was a pair of shabby boots waving frantically in the throat of the dragon.