We've previously noted the mysterious phenomenon that rows of dots or asterisks in a text invariably illustrate what came before or comes after.  Here are three random examples from the same book: the first row of dots represents the holes in a belt mentioned above them, the second row represents the holes in the blanket of night that allow stars to peek through, and the third row represents a series of gunshots.  Watch for the phenomenon -- it never fails!

From The Land Where the Sunsets Go by Orville Henry Leonard, 1917.

Foiled by a line of dots, just as the romantic action was heating up.  From La Charrette Charrie, 1923.