i had stopped on the old bridge in the twilight to look upon the glories of a dreamy afterglow, and the gnarled tree forms that were etched against its symphony of color far away down the river. just above the bands of purple and orange the evening star was coming out of a sea of turquoise, and its radiance was creeping into the waters below the trees. i heard a light foot fall behind me.
“excuse me, mister, have you got a match?”
i turned and saw an odd looking little man, of perhaps fifty, with a squirrel skin cap and ginger colored hair and beard, who laid down a burden contained in a gunny sack, and approached deferentially.
as i produced the match he brought forth a virulent looking pipe that seemed to consist mostly of solidified nicotine.
“i don’t seem to have no tobacco neither,” he continued ruefully, as he fumbled in his pockets.
i gave him a cigar, a portion of which he broke up and stuffed into his pipe. he carefully stowed the remainder in his vest pocket and began to smoke composedly.
246i asked him if he lived in the neighborhood.
“no, my place is about two miles from here. i’ve ben up the river after some snake root that’s wanted right away by the man i do business with. my name’s erastus wattles an’ i get all kinds of herbs around ’ere fer a man that sells ’em to the medicine makers somewheres down east.”
we sat on the bridge rail and talked for some time, and i became much interested in my new acquaintance. he spoke in a low voice, and his manner seemed rather furtive. he told me much of the herbs and rare plants that grew in the river country, and of his attempts to cultivate ginseng. “certain influences” had repeatedly caused failures of his crop.
“that’s a fine scene out yonder,” he remarked, and the splendid glow of jupiter in the western sky led to a subject that i found had enthralled his life, and his eyes quickened with a new light as he told me his story.
when he was a young man he had studied for the stage, but had made a failure of this, and had gone to work on an ohio river steamboat as a clerk. a very old man, with long white whiskers and green spectacles came on board at louisville late one night. he wanted to go to cairo, but lacked a dollar of the amount necessary for his boat fare. he stated that he was a professor of astrology, and offered to cast the horoscope of anybody on the boat who would supply the deficiency. after an eloquent exposition of the wonders of astrology by the professor, 247wattles furnished the dollar and the date and hour of his birth.
amid the jibes of the other employees on the boat he received his horoscope just before the landing was made at cairo. the aged seer departed down the gang plank and disappeared.
this was the turning point in the life of erastus wattles.
he sought a secluded place on the boat and studied the several closely written pages of foolscap, that were pinned together and numbered, and found that the old man had done a conscientious and thorough job.
wattles extracted a large worn envelope from an inside pocket. it contained the document, which he said he always carried with him, and he asked me to read it.
on the first page was the circle of the horoscope, divided into its twelve “houses,” and above it was the “nativity” with the “sidereal variation” noted.
in the “delineation,” which occupied the remaining pages, were black clouds of misfortune. if wattles had selected his hour of birth he could not have found one in the whole gamut of heavenly chords when his entrance into the world would have been more inopportune.
mars was “on the ascendant in taurus” and was his “significator” and “ruling planet.” its position in relation to the other “malefics”—saturn, uranus and neptune—all of which were above the horizon, was most disastrous. two malefics were 248“poised upon the cusp of the house of money,” indicating that wattles “would go broke, and remain so during life.” the moon was also in a hostile square at the time.
the hoary headed astrologer had “dived into the abyss of futurity, and through a glass darkly” he had seen “a pale light.” it illumined a life of hopeless sorrow and futility. ever and anon the blood red eye of mars gleamed with a baleful glow upon the destiny under consideration. when mars was off duty saturn took up the malign rod, which was yielded to uranus and neptune when he passed temporarily into other fields of astral activity to indicate misfortunes of other people.
periods of deep perplexities were apparent—when wattles must not engage in new ventures, or talk with men over sixty, or with women under forty—when he must not deal with farmers, or have anything to do with people with red hair or bushy eyebrows. he was not to ask favors, travel, trade, write letters or marry, when the moon was in its first or last quarter, or have anything to do with surgeons or tradesmen when the moon was in conjunction with saturn. flying pains in limbs and joints, warts, boils, and accidents to the head were indicated at these periods. new enterprises might be undertaken when the sun was in leo, but not if neptune was stationary in aries at that time, or if venus was retrogressing in cancer or capricorn.
when jupiter and venus were together in libra there would be particularly distressing periods for 249wattles. when jupiter passed into sagittarius there might be temptation to make merry, but in the midst of mirth he must remember death, for almost fatal accidents, and possibly severe illness were indicated for these times, which were pregnant with calamity.
a certain retrogression of uranus in leo in the fifth year after the casting, with the sun hyleg, mars in aquarius, and the moon in capricorn, indicated a liver complaint, with pains in the back and head, an almost fatal accident from an explosive compound, and interference in his affairs by a fat person—probably a female with a retreating chin, whose significator would be the malefic neptune. a minor sub-related transit “might change this female to a dark haired woman with pointed features, who would spread strange reports with a bitter tongue, but in an unknown language.”
no illnesses, accidents or women materialized in that year, and wattles thought they were all side tracked by a retrogression of mercury in virgo.
the influence of an evil minded woman, whose ruling planet was saturn, was indicated during the eleventh year. long arms, freckles and a high instep were suggested, as antares would be in gemini when she came into the sketch. wattles had assumed that this peril had been fended off by an unsuspected transit. he had stayed in the woods as much as possible while antares was in gemini, and had spoken to no female during the eleventh year, but afterwards learned that the postmistress, who 250answered the description, had told an inquirer that no such man as wattles lived in that part of the country. somebody had tried to find him with a view of making a large herb contract, which had been thereby lost, so, after all, the indication was correct.
under the heads of “heredity,” “mental faculties,” “moral qualities,” and “disposition,” it appeared that wattles possessed most of the characteristics of a goat. the “cause” was “obscure” but assiduous effort might gradually overcome some of the tendencies.
in the twenty-second year, which was yet to come, the two malefics, saturn and neptune, would retrograde in taurus. mars and the moon would be in aquarius, and this would probably mean that wattles would have an affliction of the stomach, and would lose one or both legs if he waded in unclear waters.
there were so many things to look out for that he was dazed with their complexity. he was horrified by the “variations” and “transits of evil omen” that were possible in unexpected quarters when the rest of the sky was apparently free. temporizing signs and harmless transits were rare. malign conjunctions and oppositions were leading features of every month in the calendar.
at one of the periods, when the moon and ceres would be in opposition, and venus “in trine” with neptune, wattles would die of an unindicated disorder.
251he had certainly got his dollar’s worth. with mars careering continually through the zodiac, and all the other malefics falling into conjunction and opposition at the most fateful times, he saw little prospect of escaping an astrological coil that reeked with woe. for him there was no balm in gilead, or anywhere else in the universe. like many others he let the blessings of existence take care of themselves, and was concerned solely with its ills. apparently he was hopelessly enmeshed, but instinctively he struggled on.
the far seeing sage delineated a collateral variation indicating that the subject of the horoscope would, within a year after its casting, become a disciple, and possibly a practitioner, of a certain ancient science that had to do with the heavenly bodies, but the indication was not quite clear as to its name.
impelled by this covert and ingeniously mystic suggestion, wattles had procured all the literature he could find on the subject of astrology, and had studied it carefully. he hoped that he might find error in his horoscope, but the more he studied the more he believed. he had been touched with a hypnotic wand and had drifted into the toils of a remorseless power.
the opinion expressed by one of his friends on the steamboat that “the old party who cast the horoscope was probably drunk” had no weight with wattles. there were too many confirmations of planet positions and significations in the astrological 252almanacs and related literature that he had succeeded in accumulating.
there was a postscript at the end of the delineation. somewhere in the realms of infinite space the white bearded prophet felt the presence of a strange and malign star, that, for lack of data at hand, could not be named. its unknown orbit dimly intersected the fate lines of wattles. at some crisis in his affairs it would unexpectedly become manifest and would have a woeful significance.
wattles pondered long upon the missing star in his horoscope, and had vainly sought it in his studies. there appeared to be nothing in his books that could lead to a solution, and the unknown malefic besieged his soul with a haunting fear.
“i got to keep track of all them heavenly bodies, and if that damn star ever shows up i must get a line on it,” he declared, as he folded up his horoscope. “i’ve got all the almanacs, and i know where ev’rything is all the time. i’ve studied astrology ’till i’ve ben black in the face, and i’m an expert caster. i’m goin’ to cast horoscopes right along now. there’s my significator comin’ up, an’ its in aquarius now,” he remarked, and he pointed to mars that had just scaled the tree tops in the east.
he offered, “for the small sum of fifty cents,” to sell me an unlabelled bottle of brown liquid, which he said was “an excellent tonic” that he made himself. he called it “wahoo bitters.” i made the purchase and placed the precious compound on the bridge rail.
253he took a small book from his pocket, which he consulted for a moment, and then invited me to visit him if i would come at a particular hour on thursday of the following week. this i promised to do if possible. he told me how to find his house, gratefully accepted another cigar, and bade me good night. he then softly mingled with the shadows of the woods with his bag of roots. i pushed the wahoo bitters gently over into the river and continued my walk.
he was a strange and pathetic figure. naturally superstitious, he had become imbued with illusions, that for ages have lured the imaginations of those who have reached blindly into the unknowable and found only the ego—the “ruling star” in all horoscopes. verily, to man, the luminary of the greatest magnitude in the universe is himself. not content to be silly over little things, he must needs prowl among the constellations and there spin the web of his puny personal affairs, as in theology he assumes the particular concern of the almighty with his daily doings.
ancient as astrology is, it is not as old as conceit.
i was curious to know more of wattles. at heart i scoffed, but concluded to keep my engagement and ask him to cast my horoscope. on the appointed day i made the little journey. the road led through the woods for a mile or so to a big oak tree that wattles had described. here a narrow path left it and followed the course of the river to 254a long bayou. beyond the end of the bayou i found some high ground on which perhaps an acre had been cleared. near the farther edge of the clearing was an unpainted single story house with low eaves. there was some queer looking frame work, and a small platform on the roof.
as i approached the door i was confronted with cabalistic characters—painted in black on the wood work. the signs of the zodiac appeared around the rim of a roughly drawn circle. on a blue background at the top of the door were four stars and a crescent moon in yellow. i assumed that the stars represented the malefics in wattles’ horoscope.
in response to my knock, he opened the door.
“well, i’m glad to see you!” he exclaimed. “i didn’t think you’d come. i thought mebbe you might size me up for a queer bird after all that talk we had on the bridge. set down an’ make yourself comfortable.”
he flung a villainous looking maltese tom cat, that he addressed as “scorpio,” out of a crippled rocking chair, and i occupied the vacated space.
as scorpio fled through a hole in the bottom of the door, that apparently had been cut for his benefit, i noticed that he was much scarred. one ear was gone, his left eyelid was missing, there were bare places on him where the fur had been removed, evidently with violence, and his tail was not complete. these things imparted a sinister aspect, and i did not like him. he looked like a thoroughly bad cat, and was probably a malefic.
255it would seem fit that a cat found amid such uncanny surroundings should be black instead of maltese, but as this is a veracious chronicle it is necessary to adhere to facts.
we spent some time in desultory conversation before i mentioned the ostensible object of my visit.
“now,” said wattles, “before i do anything about your horoscope, i want to show some i’ve ben casting,” and he began pulling over some papers on his shelves.
while he was doing this i looked around the strange room.
a row of bottles on one of the shelves contained various small reptiles with filmy orbs that peered out through alcohol. from the end of the shelf a stuffed badger stared fixedly and disdainfully, with dull glass eyes, at a moth eaten coon that returned the gaze from a pedestal in a darkened corner. a dismal and tattered owl occupied a perch above the coon. one of his glass eyes had dropped out, but with the other he regarded the offending badger sadly.
a dried snake skin, with several dangling rattles, was tacked on the wall back of the stove, with a few indian relics—bows, arrows, and a spear head—that were arranged on each side of it. some butterflies with broken wings, and beetles, impaled on pins, were scattered through the spaces around the relics. a number of colored botanical prints and astronomical charts were pinned on the walls, and there were 256cobwebs in the upper corners that appeared to be inhabited.
some bunches of withered herbs and a broken violin hung above the window. on a table near it was a violet tinted globe of solid glass, about six inches in diameter. it was mounted on a block of wood. wattles afterwards explained that this was a “magic crystal of marvellous power,” and that it “pictured prophetic visions under certain influences.”
the air in the room had a pungent musty odor, as of dried roots and plants, and i thought that a pile of small sacks back of the stove might contain something of the kind.
wattles finally produced copies of the horoscopes and i was pleased to find among them those of my friends tipton posey, bill stiles and “rat” hyatt.
as wattles traded at posey’s store, his horoscope had probably been exchanged for merchandise.
posey’s nativity was exceptionally fortuitous. jupiter was his significator, and the other benefics were advantageously placed at the hour of his birth. in the delineation it appeared that there were few blessings that would escape him as long as he was kind to friends and not too fond of money. his historical parallel was a certain ancient persian king, who, after a long and happy reign, was suffocated in a shower of gold.
he would be fortunate in his dealings with all those who had to do with medicines of any kind. it would always be safe for him to extend credit when 257any of the benefics were above the horizon, and at any time that the sun was in aquarius, scorpio, or leo. it would be a bad time for posey to ask for money, or to try to collect debts of any kind, when mercury was in opposition to mars, when the moon was full, or partially so, when the sun was in virgo, taurus, or aries, or when two or more of the malefics were above the horizon. persons born under posey’s planet were tactful and magnetic, had much power over the minds of others and were model housewives. they were proud, dignified and conservative, intolerant of wrong, and well adapted to fill representative positions. usually they had piercing intellects and triumphed in all things. they were at times inclined to avarice, and to be suspicious of others, and this must be strongly guarded against. there was a dark warning against the acquirement of too much wealth.
in his magic crystal wattles dimly saw a figure that looked like posey, but the head was that of some kind of a beast. it sat upon a rock with a big bag of gold, with which it had climbed a weary hill. beyond was a shady bower among the trees, under which dwelt happy hours. the way was blocked by two black rams, that signified opposition. the figure could not go on, for its fair form had been changed by the winning of the gold.
far beyond the bower was a wonderful city with brilliant domes. its towers sparkled with ruby and pearl, and unto this bright city the figure could never 258go, because of its brutish aspect that betokened greed.
bill stiles’s ruling star was saturn, and his nativity was questionable. the planet’s position, with regard to the moon and mars in leo, indicated a master spirit, subject to many variations of fortune. the tendencies were modified by the benign presence of arcturus and venus in aries at his natal hour. two famous roman emperors had almost identical nativities. bill was studious, veracious, instinctively noble and imperious. he had an iron will, abhorred deception in others, and was stern and able. he would be warlike and refractory when mars was in the square of saturn. when his significator was in aquarius, he would be liable to serious errors of judgment, and he would have great potency for evil. he would succeed in undertakings that would bring fame. certain literary work, upon which he was now engaged, was likened to that of the ancient jewish historian josephus. at some period when mercury and venus were in opposition, and the moon was in capricorn, bill would fall to rise no more.
venus was ascendant in virgo when rat hyatt came into the world, but the watchful eye of saturn in leo was upon him. the benign love star was not allowed to monopolize his fortunes. there were three malefics in strategic sectors that betokened danger. the moon was coyly ensconced with respect to venus, and thus neutralized the dire influences to some extent. counterparts of rat’s characteristics, 259indicated by planetic conditions at his birth, were found in richard coeur de lion and marcus aurelius. they evidenced one “skilful in command, ambitious, cautious, strenuous, obstinate, active, yet indolent at times, versatile, inventive, acute and self confident, busy in all things, terrible in anger, intrepid and invincible when roused, loyal to friends and modest, yet fond of applause.”
there were many dark spots in the picture, aspected by the moon, that were fraught with peril, and hyatt must beware of the angry saturn. mars was also an interfering factor. rat must never go below a certain bend in the river during a waning moon, or in the summer time, and must shun women with protruding teeth. (an obvious allusion to hyatt ’s friend, malindy taylor, whom wattles admired from afar.)
in a vision in wattles’s crystal, while rat hyatt was under consideration, there appeared a tall skeleton, with a helmet and a fiery spear. it wore a breast plate on which was inscribed “sent from god.” the bony arms waved the spear, and the crystal was suffused with red.
the interpretation was that hyatt would be wanted in the near future.
in another crystal vision, a slowly moving figure, with a sorrow stricken mien, and a halo above its head, approached a water’s edge and contemplated men who drew a net. when the meshes came upon the sand the figure stooped, took from them one of 260the fish, and cast it back into the sea. a darkness then came upon the face of the waters.
wattles divined that this signified something in connection with hyatt, and that “the fish was no good.”
as i finished reading the horoscopes the tom cat scorpio returned through the hole in the door and crawled under the stove with a chipmunk he had caught in the woods.
“that crystal was at one time in india,” explained wattles, as he placed the horoscopes between the leaves of a big book. “the buddhists used it, and it was stolen by a desecrater of a temple, who fled to italy. there it was used by a great astrologer and magician for over fifty years. from italy it went to england and into the possession of the world renowned zadkiel. after that it went to new york by inheritance. i bought it from a man in cincinnati for two dollars. he did not know what it was, but i did, for it was fully described in some books i have. i believe it to be the celebrated lady blessington crystal that was exhibited in london before all the nobility in 1850. i will show you how it works.”
he placed the crystal on the window ledge, and into a little pan, between it and the light, he poured some gray powder from a wide mouthed bottle. he lighted the powder and a pale yellow smoke ascended. he then covered his head and half of the globe with a black cloth, as one would do in focussing a camera. in this way all light was excluded except 261that which passed through the smoke and crystal into the darkened space under the cloth.
“i am not expecting to see any visions now,” he continued, “but for all that there may be one there.” he was silent for some time and then asked me to look.
i carefully adjusted the cloth and gazed upon the luminous orb. owing to the wreaths of smoke on the other side of the globe, there were weird filmy changes in the field of light. a dark indistinct form seemed to wander in the dim depths of the crystal. the movement ceased near the center.
i told wattles what had happened, and asked him to interpret it, but he made no reply. i withdrew the cloth and found that the mysterious apparition had been produced by the blurred magnification of the silhouette of a blue bottle fly that was crawling about on the light side of the crystal.
wattles said, in a regretful, kindly tone, that the influences were not quite right for the visions. he had found by the test that i was a skeptic, and, when looked into by unbelievers, the crystal remained clouded and never “visualized.” i accepted the explanation humbly.
“now,” said he, “i want you to see my observatory.” he took a long marine spy glass from behind the books on the shelf and we ascended a rickety ladder to a trap door in the roof, by means of which we reached an enclosed platform over the house.
“by get’n’ up here i command a better horizon 262than i would from the ground,” he explained, as he adjusted the spy glass into the top of some revolving frame work. from the low seat near it he could inspect the heavens to his heart’s content. through the glass i scrutinized a flock of turbulent crows around some tree tops beyond the river a mile or so away, and it appeared to be an excellent instrument of its kind.
in this humble eyrie i could fancy wattles communing with the stars on quiet nights, listening to their spiritual voices, gazing with apprehension upon the hovering malefics, and searching the immutable heavens for the missing orb of his horoscope.
like the chaldeans of old upon their lonely watch towers in the dawn of history, he contemplated the bejewelled scroll, and beheld the endless processions of mighty planets that, in his belief, cycled through infinity to fashion minute destinies on the distant speck of earth. the flying shuttling spheres were weaving the mottled fabrics of the fates of men, and, among them was the frail and ill-starred web of wattles. after all, was he of less consideration than all the others who assume the creation of the universe to be a vast design for the final glory of humanity?
we descended from the platform, and wattles conducted me to his “labertory,” a small room at the rear of the house.
several large kettles were scattered about, and, on a low platform was a large alembic. a big stove stood near the chimney. stacked along the shelves 263were baskets of dried leaves, flowers and berries, piles of various herbs, bundles of wild cherry and wahoo bark, and bags of flag and snake roots.
the tom cat scorpio had followed us and he sniffed suspiciously around a barrel in the corner, in which there were probably mouse nests.
“this is where i make them celebrated wahoo bitters,” wattles announced proudly, as he pointed to a row of filled bottles on one of the shelves. “i got the formula from waukena, the old injun squaw that used to live up in whippoorwill bayou. all the injuns used to take it when they got sick, but they didn’t ’ave such improved ways of makin’ it as i got. they used to drop red hot stones in with the things its made of, and i think that killed part o’ the edge the bitters ought to have on ’em when they’re done. they didn’t know how to combine certain chemical diffusions and decant ’em off the way i do. i sell a good deal o’ them bitters around ’ere. posey keeps ’em at the store an’ there’s lots of other places where they have ’em in the stores.”
we left the “labertory” and i heard the sound of a swift scrape along the floor. i inferred that scorpio had made a seizure.
wattles kindly asked me to have some lunch with him. it was more of a “feed” than a repast. late in the afternoon i finished my rather prolonged but interesting visit.
wattles wanted to show me his garden, and we walked out into the clearing along the edge of a deep ravine back of the house. some of the vegetables 264in the garden had struggled hard for existence.
“look at them beets!” he exclaimed ruefully. “i planted ’em under exactly proper lunar aspects and i ain’t got a damn beet in the patch.”
he promised to leave my horoscope at posey’s store in about a week. i thanked him for his many courtesies and departed. i noticed that he did not invite me to make him another visit.
it happened that nearly six months elapsed before i was in that part of the country again. i inquired at the store for my horoscope and found that it had been left according to agreement. it was a thrilling document and i found much amusement in it.
i had a chat with posey out on the platform, and he told me that my astrological friend had got into all kinds of trouble.
“that feller was a pippin,” he declared; “the slickest that ever lived around ’ere, an’ we’ve had some pretty good ones. he was foregathered by the officers for makin’ queer half dollars up to his place an’ the devil was to pay. the coins was finished up so fine you c’d hardly tell ’em. he shipped ’em out with the herbs ’e sent to some feller away off, an’ it was a long time before they traced ’em. he had a little furnace in the cellar under ’is house that ’e went down into through a trap door in the floor, an’ they was a tunnel from the cellar out to the side of the ravine back of the house that ’e’d dug to git away by if anybody ever come after ’im.
the sheriff
265“that wahoo bitters fluid ’e made was hot stuff. it was about three-quarters bad alcohol. you c’d take three er four fair sized doses an’ you’d want to go out an’ throw stones at yer folks. ev’rybody was buyin’ it. old swan peterson took it reg’lar an’ half the time ’e didn’t know ’is name. i used to leave bill in charge o’ the store when i went off duck shoot’n. he slep’ upstairs, an’ would always ’ave a spell o’ sickness while i was away, an’ ’e’d come down in the night an’ drink up the stock. he’d git a skinfull an’ sometimes he’d stay corned three days. they wasn’t no money in that an’ i had to quit carryin’ it. all the owls in the woods up and down the river hoot ‘wahoo-wahoo’ an’ that always advertised ’is dope, but i guess ’e made more money in ’is little furnace than ’e did out o’ wahoo.
“them dizzy dreams ’e wrote about us fellers made me think ’e was looney fer awhile, an’ that the moon ’ad addled ’im when ’e was roostin’ up among them sticks on top of ’is coop at night, but you bet there wasn’t nuth’n looney about ’im. he had a wise head, all except git’n away with it.”
posey’s story was rather lengthy and involved, but it seemed that a quiet and thorough investigation of the affairs of the versatile wattles had been made by a government detective. his place was visited one day during his absence. the small furnace, some moulds, and other counterfeiter’s paraphernalia were discovered, and several hundred excellent imitations of uncle sam’s legal tender and pullman porter tips were found hidden under rubbish that concealed the entrance to the underground exit from 266the cellar. the opening in the ravine was well protected from observation by vegetation.
two secret service men, accompanied by the sheriff, had come quietly up the river in a boat late one night. one of the party stole up the path along the bayou, one approached through the ravine, and the other remained with the boat at the entrance to the bayou.
wattles heard suspicious sounds and his lights went out. he crept noiselessly through his secret exit, and at its end he saw the missing evil star of his horoscope. it was on the vest of the officer who awaited him at the mouth of the tunnel.
with the three malefics who came in the boat, poor wattles, ever a child of misfortune, and the accursed of the heavenly spheres, went forth to meet the vengeance of the law, and the scarred tom cat scorpio was alone with the visions in the crystal.
