Escheator

“ Firmly setting the point of his spear into the ground, he walked down the well-accustomed giddy path. When he had reached the Aesher, he stopped once more, and waving his hand to his hermitage, he uttered a long "Jodler" that reverberated from the Kamor and Hohen-Kasten to the Maarwiese, until it was lost in the distant clefts of the mountains.
"He can do it well," said a returning herdsman in the valley to one of his comrades.
"Almost like a goat-boy!" said the other, as Ekkehard was just disappearing behind a rocky wall. ”

“ Elo Hava! As tho it were a signal, his horde abruptly changed their tactics, concentrating their forces on a single ship. Uncertainly it checked its flight – its rocket charges dying – and in a breath it was lost in a colossal deluge of coruscating light. Moment of this – and as one, the monsters flung themselves upon the crippled craft, completely enveloping it with their bodies. And it glowed – and shrank – and vanished – as had the dimensional car! All in a period incredibly brief.
To the three below came the acrid smell of consumed matter, floating sluggishly thru the metallic vapors. ”

“ The instant the fight began, Fo-Peta shook off his numbing lethargy and leaped into action. A twist of his teeba shot him over to the screenophotoscope. It required no adjusting; it was still set on the cycle of the Zeera. In the space ship the men caught the message, relayed it to the others.
“If you get a chance, kill this monster. Use everything we have. And if those things outside get in, stop them! They’re mighty dangerous. If they surround a ship they can dissolve it – destroy it completely. Zeera’s coming up – take her in.” The Efranian broke contact and whirled toward the virgo. ”

“ The sheave has a deep groove all round the edges, [Pg 53] in which the straps ride. The "eccentricity" or "throw" of an eccentric is the distance between C2, the centre of the shaft, and C1, the centre of the sheave. The throw must equal half of the distance which the slide-valve has to travel over the steam ports. A tapering steel wedge or key, K, sunk half in the eccentric and half in a slot in the shaft, holds the eccentric steady and prevents it slipping. Some eccentric sheaves are made in two parts, bolted together, so that they may be removed easily without dismounting the shaft. ”

“ Elo Hava, turning away after closing the portal into space, grew suddenly rigid; and Fo-Peta, watching the horde above him, could only stare fixedly upward. All were helpless.
The Efranian’s staring eye saw Zeera spurt suddenly toward the space fleet, fleeing from the onrushing horde; saw her reach it and vanish among the vessels – and he knew that she was comparatively safe. Then he saw the writhing things swarm over every craft, cloaking them with pulsing curtains of azure fire – the radiance which had destroyed the dimensional car. ”

“ When everybody had gone to rest, Praxedis had kept awake. "The bad cellarer shall not have the satisfaction of punishing our poor melancholy teacher," she had said to herself; and woman's cunning always finds some way and means to accomplish its schemes. Wrapping herself up in a grey cloak, she had stolen down on tip-toe. No special artifices were necessary, for the lay-brother was sleeping the sleep of the just. If it had been otherwise, the Greek would have frightened him by some ghost-trickery. That would have been her plan.
"You must fly!" said she to Ekkehard. ”

“ A.--In marine engines, whether paddle or screw, if moving at a slow rate of speed, the eccentric is generally loose upon the shaft, for the purpose of backing, and is furnished with a back balance and catches, so that it may stand either in the position for going ahead, or in that for going astern. The body of the eccentric is of cast iron, and it is put on the shaft in two pieces. ”

“ Split sheave eccentrics.
Large eccentrics cause great loss from friction, unless provided with friction rollers in the sheave; but are sometimes used to avoid an additional crank in shaft.
186. Eccentric motion for multiplying travel of eccentric by leverage.
187. Crank motion to turn an angle instead of bevil gear and shaft, the cranks being of the form of Nos. 174 or 175.
188. Shifting or variable throw eccentric. The sheave is slotted to fit the shaft, and its throw is governed by a disc having a spiral slot and locking bolt. ”

“ Then, the fir-trees sprang into life and became monks; thousands and thousands, and chaunting psalms and swinging rods in their hands, they began to climb up the rock towards the Wildkirchlein.
Trembling with terror, Ekkehard jumped up and seized his spear,--but now it was as if a host of will-o'-the-wisps, started out from the recesses of the cavern. "Away with you, out from the Alps!" cried they threateningly. All his pulses throbbed in the heat of fever, and so he ran away over the narrow path, along the frightful precipice, into the dark night, like a madman. ”

“ Reins and arms, had both fallen from his hands, and whether the cause was the last thrust of the Hunnic chieftain, or suffocation in the heat of the battle, he was lifted down from his horse, a dead man. On opening his visor, a happy smile was still visible on his wrinkled old face, and from that hour the headache of the old man of the Heidenhöhlen, had ceased for ever.
A black dog ran about searching on the battlefield, till he found the old man's body. Dismally howling he then licked his forehead; Ekkehard standing near, with a tear in his eye, saying a prayer for the welfare of his soul.... ”

“ The Heathenish goings on with Virgil are at an end now."
"He is innocent!" said Praxedis.
"Oh," said the cellarer sneeringly, "we shall never harm innocence! He need only prove himself so by God's ordeal. If he takes the ring out of the kettle of boiling water with unburnt arm, our Abbot himself will give him the blessing; and I will say that it was all a delusion of the Devil's own making, when my eyes beheld the lady Duchess, clasped in the arms of his holiness, brother Ekkehard."
Praxedis wept. "Dear, venerable Master Rudimann!" said she imploringly. ”

“ The men meanwhile had made a sling, with some twisted fir-branches, in which to drag their booty along. They both stepped back, hatchet and spear in hand, but the bear-widow bent down over her dead spouse, bit off his right ear and ate it up, as a memorial of the happy Past. After this, she approached Ekkehard walking on her hind-legs, who, being frightened at the prospect of a possible embrace, made the sign of the cross, and pronounced St. Gallus's conjuration against bears: "Go out and take thyself away from this our valley, thou monster of the wood. Mountains and Alpine glens be thy realm ”

“ But those who have divided his garments amongst them; and cast lots for his vesture." ...
"May Heaven punish them with fire and brimstone," said Rauching in the background.
"And what answer shall I give to my mistress?" asked Ekkehard, after having finished his beaker.
"With regard to the Huns?" said the old man. "I believe that is simple enough. Tell the Duchess to go into the woods, and to see what the hedgehog does, when an enemy is coming too near. It curls itself up into a ball, and presents its prickles; and he who lays hands on it, is wounded. Suabia has got plenty of lances. ”

“ There is another lever on the end of the shaft, at right angles to B, which is connected with an eccentric on the crank-shaft of the loom by a rod, C, in the same way as the rod C is connected with the eccentric in Fig. 18. The eccentric can be set to bring the cylinder against the needles at any required time, independent of the lifting motion of the machine, which cannot be done when the self-acting motions are used. The larger the eccentric, the greater dwell the cylinder will have against needles. ”

“ When it is correctly set the screws should be tightened, and the relative position of the eccentric on the shaft may be permanently marked by setting a cold chisel so that it will cut into the shaft and the eccentric at the same time and giving it a smart blow with the hammer, so as to make a mark on both the eccentric and the shaft. Should your eccentric slip at any time in the future, you can set your valve by simply bringing the mark on the eccentric so that it will correspond with the mark on the shaft. ”

“ At Fo-Peta’s orders, Kama-Loo set the controls to descend. The strange force still held them powerless. His jell tinting with annoyance, the Efranian ordered his crew, and the commanders and crews of the other vessels to stay at their posts while he and Kama-Loo descended to the floor of the giant craft. Opening a vision plate, they drifted out.
Down, down they floated thru somewhat rarefied metallic vapors, down to the side of Zeera. An instant’s hesitation; then Fo-Peta’s feelers twined about those of the virgo in a fiercely affectionate embrace. ”

“ Before cockcrow the next morning, Ekkehard passed out of the gate on the Hohentwiel, on horseback. The fresh morning air blew about his head, over which he now drew his hood. "Why has Heaven not made you a warrior; many things would be better then." These words of the Duchess accompanied him, like his own shadow. They were for him a spur to courageous resolutions. "When danger comes, she shall not find the schoolmaster, sitting behind his books," thought he.
His horse went on at a good pace. In a few hours, he rode over the woody hills, that separate the Untersee from the lake of Ueberlingen. ”

“ Ekkehard had stepped up to the window, where he looked out towards the Alps, whilst Burkhard without hesitation, recited the following lines:
"Non possum prorsus dignos componere versus,
Nam nimis expavi duce me libante suavi."
He had again produced two faultless hexametres.
The Duchess laughed out gaily. "Well, I verily believe that thou didst greet the light of this world with a Latin verse, at thy birth? That flows from thy lips as if Virgil had arisen from his grave. But why art thou frightened when I kiss thee?"
"Because you are so grand, and proud and beautiful," said the boy. ”

“ Ekkehard's eyes were fixed immovably on the rose under her head-band, as he stepped up to her. She had to speak to him twice, before he pulled out a straw.
"Death and damnation!" Master Spazzo almost ejaculated, for he had got hold of the shortest straw. But he well knew that no excuse would be available, and dolefully looked down into the valley, as if he expected help to come from thence. Praxedis had tuned her lute and was playing a prelude, that blended sweetly with the rustling of the branches in the old maple-tree. ”

“ Do tell us such a story, Master Ekkehard, and we will gladly spare you your Virgil with his love-sick queen."
But Ekkehard's thoughts were quite differently occupied. He shook his head like one who is dreaming.
"I see that you want some stimulant," said the Duchess. "Above all, a good example will inspire you. Praxedis, prepare thyself, and likewise tell our chamberlain, that we are going to entertain ourselves to-morrow, with the telling of old legends. Let everybody be well prepared."
She took up Virgil and threw it under the table, as a sign that a new aera was to begin forthwith. ”

“ Ekkehard went up to Vincentius's room in the tower, which had been restored to perfect order; all traces of the doves having been removed. He wanted to pray and meditate, as he was wont to do in the monastery, but his head began to burn and before his soul stood the lofty figure of the Duchess; and when he looked straight at her, then Praxedis's black eyes, also peeped at him from over her mistress's shoulders.--What was to become of all this?--He went to the window where the fresh autumn air cooled his forehead, and looked out at the dark vast sky, stretching out over the silent earth. ”

“ Ekkehard's eye pierced the twilight this time, and with one bound,--quicker than that which in later days St. Bernard had made, when the madonna had beckoned to him, in the cathedral at Speier--he stood before the Duchess. He cast a long and penetrating look at her. Rising from the ground, and seizing the edge of the stone sarcophagus with her right hand, she confronted him, whilst the everlasting lamp over her head, was still gently swinging to and fro, on its silken cord.
"Thrice blessed are the dead, for one prays for them," said Ekkehard, interrupting the silence. ”

“ Try to conquer thy grief. When the eagle feels sick, and his eyes grow dim, then he rises heavenwards, as far as his wings will carry him. The nearness of the sun gives a new youth. Do thou the same. I know a bonny nook for thee to recover thy health in."
He then described the road to Ekkehard.
"Thou wilt find a man up there," continued he, "who has not seen much of the world for the last twenty years. His name is Gottshalk. Give him my greeting, and let us hope that God has forgiven him his trespasses."
The parish-priest did not say for what sin his old friend was doing penance up there. ”

“ Then he will not bite you again."
"The answer to this," replied Ekkehard, "has been given already by another: 'whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.'"
"You are extremely mild and pious," said Praxedis, "but take care how you get on in the world with that. Whoever does not defend his skin, will be flayed, and even a miserable enemy should not be considered quite harmless. Seven wasps together will kill a horse, you know."
The Greek maid was right. ”