""Now comes the important part of this long discourse," said the professor, smiling at our eagerness. ""Ever since the carca.s.s of our derelict thermosaurus was first noticed, every captain who has seen it has also reported the presence of one or more gigantic birds in the neighborhood. These birds, at a great distance, appeared to be hovering over the carca.s.s, but on the approach of a vessel they disappeared. Even in mid-ocean they were observed. When I heard about it I was puzzled. A month later I was satisfied that neither the ekaf-bird nor the ool-yllik was extinct. Last Monday I knew that I was right. I found forty-eight distinct impressions of the huge, seven-toed claw of the ekaf-bird on the beach here at Pine Inlet. You may imagine my excitement. I succeeded in digging up enough wet sand around one of these impressions to preserve its form. I managed to get it into a soap-box, and now it is there in my shop. The tide rose too rapidly for me to save the other footprints."
"I shuddered at the possibility of a clumsy misstep on my part obliterating the impression of an ool-yllik.
""That is the reason that my daughter warned you off the beach," he said, mildly.
""Hanging would have been too good for the vandal who destroyed such priceless prizes," I cried out, in self-reproach.
"Daisy Holroyd turned a flushed face to mine and impulsively laid her hand on my sleeve.
""How could you know?" she said.
""It"s all right now," said her father, emphasizing each word with a gentle tap of his pipe-bowl on the table-edge; "don"t be hard on yourself, d.i.c.k. You"ll do yeoman"s service yet."
"It was nearly midnight, and still we chatted on about the thermosaurus, the ekaf-bird, and the ool-yllik, eagerly discussing the probability of the great reptile"s carca.s.s being in the vicinity. That alone seemed to explain the presence of these prehistoric birds at Pine Inlet.
""Do they ever attack human beings?" I asked.
"The professor looked startled.
""Gracious!" he exclaimed, "I never thought of that. And Daisy running about out-of-doors! Dear me! It takes a scientist to be an unnatural parent!"
"His alarm was half real, half a.s.sumed; but, all the same, he glanced gravely at us both, shaking his handsome head, absorbed in thought.
Daisy herself looked a little doubtful. As for me, my sensations were distinctly queer.
""It is true," said the professor, frowning at the wall, "that human remains have been found a.s.sociated with the bones of the ekaf-bird--I don"t know how intimately. It is a matter to be taken into most serious consideration."
""The problem can be solved," said I, "in several ways. One is, to keep Miss Holroyd in the house--"
""I shall not stay in," cried Daisy, indignantly.
"We all laughed, and her father a.s.sured her that she should not be abused.
""Even if I did stay in," she said, "one of these birds might alight on Master d.i.c.k."
"She looked saucily at me as she spoke, but turned crimson when her father observed, quietly, "You don"t seem to think of me, Daisy!"
""Of course I do," she said, getting up and putting both arms around her father"s neck; "but d.i.c.k--as--as you call him--is so helpless and timid."
"My blissful smile froze on my lips.
""Timid!" I repeated.
"She came back to the table, making me a mocking reverence.
""Do you think I am to be laughed at with impunity?" she said.
""What are your other plans, d.i.c.k?" asked the professor. "Daisy, let him alone, you little tease!"
""One is, to haul a lot of cast-iron boilers along the dunes," I said.
"If these birds come when the carca.s.s floats in, and if they seem disposed to trouble us, we could crawl into the boilers and be safe."
""Why, that is really brilliant!" cried Daisy.
""Be quiet, my child. d.i.c.k, the plan is sound and sensible and perfectly practical. McPeek and Frisby shall go for a dozen loads of boilers to-morrow."
""It will spoil the beauty of the landscape," said Daisy, with a taunting nod to me.
""And Frisby will probably attempt to cover them with bill-posters," I added, laughing.
""That," said Daisy, "I shall prevent, even at the cost of his life."
And she stood up, looking very determined.
""Children, children," protested the professor, "go to bed--you bother me."
"Then I turned deliberately to Miss Holroyd.
""Good-night, Daisy," I said.
""Good-night, d.i.c.k," she said, very gently.
XXI
"The week pa.s.sed quickly for me, leaving but few definite impressions.
As I look back to it now I can see the long stretch of beach burning in the fierce sunlight, the endless meadows, with the glimmer of water in the distance, the dunes, the twisted cedars, the leagues of scintillating ocean, rocking, rocking, always rocking. In the starlit nights the curlew came in from the sand-bars by twos and threes; I could hear their querulous call as I lay in bed thinking. All day long the little ring-necks whistled from the sh.o.r.e. The plover answered them from distant, lonely inland pools. The great white gulls drifted like feathers upon the sea.
"One morning towards the end of the week, I, strolling along the dunes, came upon Frisby. He was bill-posting. I caught him red-handed.
""This," said I, "must stop. Do you understand, Mr. Frisby?"
"He stepped back from his work, laying his head on one side, considering first me, then the bill that he had pasted on one of our big boilers.
""Don"t you like the color?" he asked. "It goes well on them black boilers."
""Color! No, I don"t like the color, either. Can"t you understand that there are some people in the world who object to seeing patent-medicine advertis.e.m.e.nts scattered over a landscape?"
""Hey?" he said, perplexed.
""Will you kindly remove that advertis.e.m.e.nt?" I persisted.
""Too late," said Frisby; "it"s sot."
"I was too disgusted to speak, but my disgust turned to anger when I perceived that, as far as the eye could reach, our boilers, lying from three to four hundred feet apart, were ablaze with yellow-and-red posters extolling the "Eureka Liver Pill Company."
""It don"t cost "em nothin"," said Frisby, cheerfully; "I done it fur the fun of it. Purty, ain"t it?"