eputy Commissioner tapped on the desk thoughtfully.

"It happens," he said, "that a friend of mine who is attached to the
American Museum of Natural History--that's the New York museum, you
know--sails for Bermuda next Saturday to get some material. He wants to
take a helper along, and the Museum provides him with funds for engaging
help on the island."

"Yes, sir," the boy said, wondering what was coming.

"Now," the Fisheries official continued, "if he has got to have help it
might be a good experience for you to go with him, but you may have to
pay your way across. What salary you receive over there would just about
meet the expenses of the trip, so that you would break even. Would you
like to do it?"

"I'd rather start in on the Bureau," Colin answered, but he was wise
enough not to refuse an opportunity, and continued, "but if you think it
would be a good thing for me to do, why, of course, I'm ready."

"I think it would be an excellent chance," the Deputy Commissioner
said, "because we do very little work around the Bahamas, and none at
all in Bermuda, so that it would give you an idea of the fish-life there
which, otherwise, you might never get. And if you tried any Bureau work
now, you would be handicapped by not having started with the other boys,
and you'd be so far behind that you might feel badly about it. So the
Bermuda opportunity seems to me the best chance."

"What is the purpose of the trip, sir?" asked the boy.

"To prepare a model for the Museum which will give people an idea of the
sea-gardens as they really are. Part of the model will be of prepared
specimens, I believe, and some will be copies made of spun glass. I
understand that Mr. Collier wants to study especially the sea anemones,
the corals, the sponges, and the sea-fans; also, to note the habits of
the fish peculiar to the coral reefs, and show them in the model as
though they were swimming about in their natural habitat."

"That would be awfully interesting!" said Colin.

"It will teach you a lot," rejoined the Deputy Commissioner, "and you
can't ever know too much about sea-life. The real backboned fishes,
with which the Bureau principally deals, are only a small part of the
population of the ocean."

"Shall I go and call on this gentleman, then, Dr. Crafts?" the boy
asked.

"You had better drop in and see me this afternoon," was the reply. "I'll
telephone to Mr. Collier and ask him to take lunch with me and we'll
talk it over