ou know, of all the fossil remains of the great batlike and
lizard-like creatures that inhabited the earth ages and ages ago, the
bones of the gigantic saurians are the most interesting. I think they
used to splash about the water and fly over the land during the
carboniferous period; anyway, it doesn't matter. Of course you have
seen pictures of reconstructed creatures such as the ichthyosaurus,
the plesiosaurus, the anthracosaurus, and the thermosaurus?'

"I nodded, trying to keep my eyes from hers.

"'And you know that the remains of the thermosaurus were first
discovered and reconstructed by papa?'

"'Yes,' said I. There was no use in saying no.

"'I am glad you do. Now, papa has proved that this creature lived
entirely in the Gulf Stream, emerging for occasional flights across an
ocean or two. Can you imagine how he proved it?'

"'No,' said I, resolutely pointing my nose at the ocean.

"'He proved it by a minute examination of the microscopical shells
found among the ribs of the thermosaurus. These shells contained
little creatures that live only in the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.
They were the food of the thermosaurus.'

"'It was rather slender rations for a thing like that, wasn't it? Did
he ever swallow bigger food--er--men?'

"'Oh yes. Tons of fossil bones from prehistoric men are also found in
the interior of the thermosaurus.'

"'Then,' said I, 'you, at least, had better go back to Captain
McPeek's--'

"'Please turn around; don't be so foolish. I didn't say there was a
live thermosaurus in the water, did I?'

"'Isn't there?'

"'Why, no!'

"My relief was genuine, but I thought of the rifle and looked
suspiciously out to sea.

"'What's the Winchester for?' I asked.

"'Listen, and I will explain. Papa has found out--how, I do not
exactly understand--that there is in the waters of the Gulf Stream the
body of a thermosaurus. The creature must have been alive within a
year or so. The impenetrable scale-armor that covers its body has, as
far as papa knows, prevented its disintegration. We know that it is
there still, or was there within a few months. Papa has reports and
sworn depositions from steamer captains and seamen from a dozen
different vessels, all corroborating one another in essential details.
These stories, of course, get into the newspapers--sea-serpent
stories--but papa knows that they confirm his theory that the huge
body of this reptile is swinging along somewhere in the Gulf S