hers and sent them to the Smithsonian. I saw
them. They were not even labelled, but I knew that they were feathers
from the ekaf-bird or its near relative, the ool-yllik.'

"I had grown so interested that I had leaned far across the table.
Daisy, too, bent forward. It was only when the professor paused for a
moment that I noticed how close together our heads were--Daisy's and
mine. I don't think she realized it. She did not move.

"'Now comes the important part of this long discourse,' said the
professor, smiling at our eagerness. "'Ever since the carcass of our
derelict thermosaurus was first noticed, every captain who has seen it
has also reported the presence of one or more gigantic birds in the
neighborhood. These birds, at a great distance, appeared to be
hovering over the carcass, but on the approach of a vessel they
disappeared. Even in mid-ocean they were observed. When I heard about
it I was puzzled. A month later I was satisfied that neither the
ekaf-bird nor the ool-yllik was extinct. Last Monday I knew that I was
right. I found forty-eight distinct impressions of the huge,
seven-toed claw of the ekaf-bird on the beach here at Pine Inlet. You
may imagine my excitement. I succeeded in digging up enough wet sand
around one of these impressions to preserve its form. I managed to get
it into a soap-box, and now it is there in my shop. The tide rose too
rapidly for me to save the other footprints.'

"I shuddered at the possibility of a clumsy misstep on my part
obliterating the impression of an ool-yllik.

"'That is the reason that my daughter warned you off the beach,' he
said, mildly.

"'Hanging would have been too good for the vandal who destroyed such
priceless prizes,' I cried out, in self-reproach.

"Daisy Holroyd turned a flushed face to mine and impulsively laid her
hand on my sleeve.

"'How could you know?' she said.

"'It's all right now,' said her father, emphasizing each word with a
gentle tap of his pipe-bowl on the table-edge; 'don't be hard on
yourself, Dick. You'll do yeoman's service yet.'

"It was nearly midnight, and still we chatted on about the
thermosaurus, the ekaf-bird, and the ool-yllik, eagerly discussing the
probability of the great reptile's carcass being in the vicinity. That
alone seemed to explain the presence of these prehistoric birds at
Pine Inlet.

"'Do they ever attack human beings?' I asked.

"The professor looked startled.

"'Gracious!' he exclaimed, 'I never t