GRIFFEN THE HIGH FLIER 



I. THE WIZARD OF THE PYRENEES 



OLD Atlantes, the wizard of the Pyrenees, 

 had built a tower for his laboratory on the 

 topmost peak of a gray mountain. There was 

 no magic about the tower at first — only solid 

 walls of masonry with one narrow door and, at 

 the top, a dome of glass, where the sage could sit 

 and gaze at the stars. But the wise wizard hoped 

 that by the exercise of his art he would be able 

 to bring magic out of the place by-and-by. And 

 so, if you could have looked in upon him on any 

 fair night or rainy day, you would have seen him 

 surrounded by retorts and alembics, and pots and 

 vials, and wands, and magic circles and books, 

 and signs of the zodiac, and the thousand and one 

 things necessary to the wizard's trade. Scattered 

 about the room, in no very orderly manner, were 

 bundles of all kinds of herbs, ingots of gold and 

 silver, thin sheets of tin and copper and zinc, 

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