the room warming his rage, which was provoked by such
ignorance.

"Good heavens, madam, where have you lived?" he exclaimed
explosively--"are you a fool, or merely an ignorant woman? I am talking
of prehistoric times, thousands of years ago, when you were probably a
stray atom embedded in the slime."

"Oh, you horrid creature!" cried Mrs. Jasher indignantly, and was about
to give Braddock her opinion, if only to show him that she could hold
her own, when the door opened.

"How are you, Mrs. Jasher?" said Lucy, advancing.

"Here am I and here is Archie. Dinner is ready. And you--"

"I am very hungry," said Mrs. Jasher. "I have been called an atom of the
slime," then she laughed and took possession of young Hope.

Lucy wrinkled her brow; she did not approve of the widow's man-annexing
instinct.

CHAPTER III. A MYSTERIOUS TOMB

One member of the Braddock household was not included in the general
staff, being a mere appendage of the Professor himself. This was a
dwarfish, misshapen Kanaka, a pigmy in height, but a giant in breadth,
with short, thick legs, and long, powerful arms. He had a large head,
and a somewhat handsome face, with melancholy black eyes and a fine set
of white teeth. Like most Polynesians, his skin was of a pale bronze and
elaborately tattooed, even the cheeks and chin being scored with curves
and straight lines of mystical import. But the most noticeable thing
about him was his huge mop of frizzled hair, which, by some process,
known only to himself, he usually dyed a vivid yellow. The flaring locks
streaming from his head made him resemble a Peruvian image of the sun,
and it was this peculiar coiffure which had procured for him the odd
name of Cockatoo. The fact that this grotesque creature invariably wore
a white drill suit, emphasized still more the suggestion of his likeness
to an Australian parrot.

Cockatoo had come from the Solomon Islands in his teens to the colony
of Queensland, to work on the plantations, and there the Professor had
picked him up as his body servant. When Braddock returned to marry Mrs.
Kendal, the boy had refused to leave him, although it was represented
to the young savage that he was somewhat too barbaric for sober England.
Finally, the Professor had consented to bring him over seas, and had
never regretted doing so, for Cockatoo, finding his scientific master a
true friend, worshipped him as a visible god. Having been captured when
young by Pacific blac