," was the reply, "but it will be at the expense of other species
which are of no use to man. Nature is like the proverbial Irishman, she
can't be drove, but she's mighty easy to lead. When you return to the
university, get hold of some books on the means by which all the various
kinds of living creatures in the world are kept on an even balance, how
they all get their food, and how every tiny speck fits into the whole
world scheme. You'll find that sort of reading has more grip to it than
any novel--except, perhaps, those of a few of the really great writers,
of whom there are some in every age."

[Illustration: WINTER ON THE GREAT LAKES, STRIPPING LAKE-TROUT.

_Courtesy of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries._]

[Illustration: WINTER WORK ON INLAND STREAMS, PLANTING TROUT FRY IN
ICE-COVERED RIVERS.

_Courtesy of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries._]

"I found that out," answered Colin, "when I was working with Mr.
Collier. He was always saying that things were 'so much worth while,'
and when he started to explain them, they certainly were! It's just like
this, I've only seen a little bit of this inland water work, but you
handle other species beside whitefish in this work on the Great Lakes,
don't you?"

"Yes," was the culturist's reply; "lake trout and pike perch among
others. One station alone has handled seventy-one million trout eggs in
a season. But the pike perch is a more difficult fish to propagate
artificially, though nearly half a million eggs were distributed last
year. We gave Canada six million pike perch fry. There's no wasted
energy in the Bureau of Fisheries, it's practical all the way through,
and you're learning to see it from the right angle--doing the work and
seeing the results."

It was this personal contact with the fish-culture work, this direct
demonstration of the money value to the country of scientific knowledge,
which became Colin's stimulus. His college-mates outdistanced him in
many studies, for the boy was not at heart of a scholarly type, but in
his scientific work he was far in advance of them all. Seeing his
interest and his perseverance, several of the professors and instructors
in the scientific department took a liking to Colin, and the lad was
sure to be found on every kind of field expedition for which he was
eligible. He was quite an athlete, too, but he settled down to swimming
as his share in the athletic work of the university. Already quite at
home in the water, he worked at i