ims to have discovered a new star.
Amateur astronomer up North Clark. Find him and get a story.' So I set
out to track him down...."

* * * * *

It was a great moment for Thaddeus McIlvaine. He sat down among his
friends almost portentously, adjusted his spectacles, and peered over
them in his usual manner, half way between a querulous oldster and a
reproachful schoolmaster.

"I've done it," he said quietly.

"Aye, and what?" asked Alexander testily.

"I discovered a new star."

"Oh," said Leopold flatly. "A cinder in your eye."

"It lies just off Arcturus," McIlvaine went on, "and it would appear to
be coming closer."

"Give it my love," said Richardson with a wry smile. "Have you named it
yet? Or don't the discoverers of new stars name them any more?
McIlvaine's Star--that's a good name for it. Hard a port of Arcturus,
with special displays on windy nights."

McIlvaine only smiled. "It's a dark star," he said presently. "It
doesn't have light." He spoke almost apologetically, as if somehow he
had disappointed his friends. "I'm going to try and communicate with
it."

"That's the ticket," said Alexander.

"Cut for deal," said Leopold.

That was how the news about McIlvaine's Star was received by his
cronies. Afterward, after McIlvaine had dutifully played several games
of euchre, Richardson conceived the idea of telephoning the _Globe_ to
announce McIlvaine's discovery.

* * * * *

"The old fellow took himself seriously," Harrigan went on. "And yet he
was so damned mousy about it. I mean, you got the impression that he had
been trying for so long that now he hardly believed in his star himself
any longer. But there it was. He had a long, detailed story of its
discovery, which was an accident, as those things usually are. They
happen all the time, and his story sounded convincing enough. Just the
same, you didn't feel that he really had anything. I took down notes, of
course; that was routine. I got a picture of the old man, with never an
idea we'd be using it.

"To tell the truth, I carried my notes around with me for a day or so
before it occurred to me that it wouldn't do any harm to put a call in
to Yerkes Observatory up in Wisconsin. So I did, and they confirmed
McIlvaine's Star. The _Globe_ had the story, did it up in fine style.

"It was two weeks before we heard from McIlvaine again...."

* * * * *