ten to rise. It is an awful climate, this. Now if
we were in Africa the world would be blazing with sunlight at this hour
of the morning. Just see that mist rolling over those cabbages. It is
enough to give you rheumatism to look at it. Beastly climate--Beastly!
Really I don't know why anything but frogs ever stay in England--Well,
don't let me keep you. Run along and see the Doctor."

"Thank you," I said. "I'll go and look for him."

When I opened the front door I could smell bacon frying, so I made my
way to the kitchen. There I discovered a large kettle boiling away over
the fire and some bacon and eggs in a dish upon the hearth. It seemed
to me that the bacon was getting all dried up with the heat. So I pulled
the dish a little further away from the fire and went on through the
house looking for the Doctor.

I found him at last in the Study. I did not know then that it was called
the Study. It was certainly a very interesting room, with telescopes
and microscopes and all sorts of other strange things which I did not
understand about but wished I did. Hanging on the walls were pictures of
animals and fishes and strange plants and collections of birds' eggs and
sea-shells in glass cases.

The Doctor was standing at the main table in his dressing-gown. At first
I thought he was washing his face. He had a square glass box before him
full of water. He was holding one ear under the water while he covered
the other with his left hand. As I came in he stood up.

"Good morning, Stubbins," said he. "Going to be a nice day, don't
you think? I've just been listening to the Wiff-Waff. But he is very
disappointing--very."

"Why?" I said. "Didn't you find that he has any language at all?"

"Oh yes," said the Doctor, "he has a language. But it is such a poor
language--only a few words, like 'yes' and 'no'--'hot' and 'cold.'
That's all he can say. It's very disappointing. You see he really
belongs to two different families of fishes. I thought he was going to
be tremendously helpful--Well, well!"

"I suppose," said I, "that means he hasn't very much sense if his
language is only two or three words?"

"Yes, I suppose it does. Possibly it is the kind of life he leads.
You see, they are very rare now, these Wiff-Waffs--very rare and very
solitary. They swim around in the deepest parts of the ocean entirely
by themselves--always alone. So I presume they really don't need to talk
much."

"Perhaps some kind of a bigger shellfi