Marable, in a Desperate Frenzy, Hacked at the Reptile's Awful Head

Astounding Stories of Super-Science, July 1930, by Astounding Stories is part of HackerNoon’s Book Blog Post series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here. VOL. III, No. 1: From An Amber Block

Astounding Stories of Super - Science, July 1930: VOL. III, No. 1 - From An Amber Block

By Tom Curry

Marable, in a desperate frenzy, hacked at the reptile's awful head.

"THESE should prove especially valuable and interesting without a doubt, Marable," said the tall, slightly stooped man. He waved a long hand toward the masses of yellow brown which filled the floor of the spacious workrooms, towering almost to the skylights, high above their heads.

A giant amber block at last gives up its living, ravenous prey.

"Is that coal in the biggest one with the dark center?" asked an attractive young woman who stood beside the elder of the men."I am inclined to believe it will prove to be some sort of black liquid," said Marable, a big man of thirty-five.There were other people about the immense rooms, the laboratories of the famous Museum of Natural History. Light streamed in from the skylights and windows; fossils of all kinds, some immense in size, were distributed about. Skilled specialists were chipping away at matrices other artists were reconstructing, doing a thousand things necessary to the work.A hum of low talking, accompanied by the irregular tapping of chisels on stone, came to their ears, though they took no heed of this, since they worked here day after day, and it was but the usual sound of the paleontologists' laboratory.Marable threw back his blond head. He glanced again toward the dark haired, blue eyed young woman, but when he caught her eye, he looked away and spoke to her father, Professor Young."I think that big one will turn out to be the largest single piece of amber ever mined," he said. "There were many difficulties in getting it out, for the workmen seemed afraid of it, did not want to handle it for some silly reason or other."PROFESSOR Young, curator, was an expert in his line, but young Marable had charge of these particular fossil blocks, the amber being pure because it was mixed with lignite. The particular block which held the interest of the three was a huge yellow brown mass of irregular shape. Vaguely, through the outer shell of impure amber, could be seen the heart of ink. The chunk weighed many tons, and its crate had just been removed by some workmen and was being taken away, piece by piece.The three gazed at the immense mass, which filled the greater part of one end of the laboratory and towered almost to the skylights. It was a small mountain, compared to the size of the room, and in this case the mountain had come to man."Miss Betty, I think we had better begin by drawing a rough sketch of the block," said Marable.Betty Young, daughter of the curator, nodded. She was working as assistant and secretary to Marable."Well—what do you think of them?"

The voice behind them caused them to turn, and they looked into the face of Andrew Leffler, the millionaire paleontologist, whose wealth and interest in the museum had made it possible for the institution to acquire the amber.

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