.
"One light steel cage, large enough for you to stand in.
"One stenographer (male sex).
"One five-pound steel tank, with siphon and hose attachment.
"One rifle and ammunition.
"Three ounces rosium oxyde.
"One ounce chlorate strontium.

"You will then, within twenty-four hours, set out with the
stenographer and the supplies mentioned and join me in camp on
Little Sprite Lake. This order is formal and admits of no
delay. You will appreciate the necessity of absolute and
unquestioning obedience when I tell you that I am practically
on the brink of the most astonishing discovery recorded in
natural history since Monsieur Zani discovered the
purple-spotted zoombok in Nyanza; and that I depend upon you
and your zeal and fidelity for success.

"I dare not, lest my letter fall into unscrupulous hands,
convey to you more than a hint of what lies before us in these
uncharted solitudes of the Everglades.

"You must read between the lines when I say that because one
can see through a sheet of glass, the glass is none the less
solid and palpable. One can see _through_ it--if that is also
seeing it; but one can nevertheless hold it and feel it and
receive from it sensations of cold or heat according to its
temperature.

"Certain jellyfish are absolutely transparent when in the
water, and one can only know of their presence by accidental
contact, not by sight.

"_Have you ever thought that possibly there might exist larger
and more highly organized creatures transparent to eyesight,
yet palpable to touch?_

"Little Sprite Lake is the jumping-off place; beyond lie the
Everglades, the outskirts of which are haunted by the
Seminoles, the interior of which have never been visited by
man, as far as we know.

"As you are aware, no general survey of Florida has yet been
made; there exist no maps of the Everglades south of
Okeechobee; even Little Sprite Lake is but a vague blot on our
maps. We know, of course, that south of the eleven thousand
square miles of fresh water which is called Lake Okeechobee
the Everglades form a vast, delta-like projection of thousands
and thousands of square miles. Darkest Africa is no longer a
mystery; but the Everglades to-day remain the sombre secret of
our continent. And, to-day, this unknown expanse of swamps,
barrens, f