send a pack-mule through once a month.
I've met him; he's a bad-tempered hypochondriac, a cynic at heart, and
a man whose word is never doubted. If he says he has a great auk, you
may be satisfied he has."

My heart was beating with excitement at the prospect; I looked out
across the wooded headlands and tangled stretches of dune and hollow,
trying to realize what it might mean to me, to Professor Farrago, to
the world, if I should lead back to New York a live auk.

"He's a crank," said Lee; "frankly, I don't like him. If you find it
unpleasant there, come back to us."

"Does Halyard live alone?" I asked.

"Yes--except for a professional trained nurse--poor thing!"

"A man?"

"No," said Lee, disgustedly.

Presently he gave me a peculiar glance; hesitated, and finally said:
"Ask Halyard to tell you about his nurse and--the harbor-master.
Good-bye--I'm due at the quarry. Come and stay with us whenever you
care to; you will find a welcome at Port-of-Waves."

We shook hands and parted on the cliff, he turning back into the
forest along the railway, I starting northward, pack slung, rifle over
my shoulder. Once I met a group of quarrymen, faces burned brick-red,
scarred hands swinging as they walked. And, as I passed them with a
nod, turning, I saw that they also had turned to look after me, and I
caught a word or two of their conversation, whirled back to me on the
sea-wind.

They were speaking of the harbor-master.

III

Towards sunset I came out on a sheer granite cliff where the sea-birds
were whirling and clamoring, and the great breakers dashed, rolling in
double-thundered reverberations on the sun-dyed, crimson sands below
the rock.

Across the half-moon of beach towered another cliff, and, behind this,
I saw a column of smoke rising in the still air. It certainly came
from Halyard's chimney, although the opposite cliff prevented me from
seeing the house itself.

I rested a moment to refill my pipe, then resumed rifle and pack, and
cautiously started to skirt the cliffs. I had descended half-way
towards the beech, and was examining the cliff opposite, when
something on the very top of the rock arrested my attention--a man
darkly outlined against the sky. The next moment, however, I knew it
could not be a man, for the object suddenly glided over the face of
the cliff and slid down the sheer, smooth lace like a lizard. Before I
could get a square look at it, the thing crawled into the surf--or,