st skipper spoke it, and always in the Gulf Stream. They
think it is a different specimen every time, and the papers are
teeming with sea-serpent fol-de-rol.'

"'Are you sure,' I asked, 'that it will swing into the coast on this
Gulf Stream loop?'

"'I think I may say that it is certain to do so. I experimented with a
dead right-whale. You may have heard of its coming ashore here last
summer.'

"'I think I did,' said I, with a faint smile. The thing had poisoned
the air for miles around.

"'But,' I continued, 'suppose it comes in the night?'

"He laughed.

"'There I am lucky. Every night this month, and every day, too, the
current of the loop runs inland so far that even a porpoise would
strand for at least twelve hours. Longer than that I have not
experimented with, but I know that the shore trend of the loop runs
across a long spur of the submerged volcanic mountain, and that
anything heavier than a porpoise would scrape the bottom and be
carried so slowly that at least twelve hours must elapse before the
carcass could float again into deep water. There are chances of its
stranding indefinitely, too, but I don't care to take those chances.
That is why I have stationed you here, Dick.'

"He glanced again at the water, smiling to himself.

"'There is another question I want to ask,' I said, 'if you don't
mind.'

"'Of course not!' he said, warmly.

"'What are you digging for?'

"'Why, simply for exercise. The doctor told me I was killing myself
with my sedentary habits, so I decided to dig. I don't know a better
exercise. Do you?'

"'I suppose not,' I murmured, rather red in the face. I wondered
whether he'd mention fossils.

"'Did Daisy tell you why we are making our papier-mache thermosaurus?'
he asked.

"I shook my head.

"'We constructed that from measurements I took from the fossil remains
of the thermosaurus in the Metropolitan Museum. Professor Bruce
Stoddard made the drawings. We set it up here, all ready to receive
the skin of the carcass that I am expecting.'

"We had started towards home, walking slowly across the darkening
dunes, shoulder to shoulder. The sand was deep, and walking was not
easy.

"'I wish,' said I at last, 'that I knew why Miss Holroyd asked me not
to walk on the beach. It's much less fatiguing.'

"'That,' said the professor, 'is a matter that I intend to discuss
with you to-night.' He spoke gravely, almost sadly. I felt that
something of unparalleled importance was