wn
to the making of serious charges against my son's integrity.

"Such are the alleged purposes of this project," said _The Gad_. "Let
us now consider its real purpose, far more insidious than any one has
hitherto suspected, but which is now seen to be that of _separating
the widows and orphans of this land from their accumulated savings_,
and diverting them into the _pockets of Noah and his family_!"

I thought I should sink through the floor when this met my eyes, and
I was appalled when I read on and realized how many thousands of
people would believe the plausible tale of villany _The Gad_ had
managed to construct out of a few innocent facts. Noah's plan was in
brief stated to be a scheme for the impoverishment of innocent
investors, by selling them shares of stock, both common and preferred,
in his International Marine and Zoo Flotation Company. According to
the writer of this infamous libel, immediately the vessel was finished
at a cost of about $79.50, it was Noah's intention to incorporate his
enterprise with himself as President and Treasurer, and Shem, Ham and
Japhet as his Board of Directors, the capital being placed at the
enormous sum of $100,000,000.

"This capitalization," said the exposure, "will be divided into fifty
millions of preferred stock, and fifty millions of common, all of
which will be sold to the public at par; subject to a first mortgage
already existing, and held by Noah and his sons, which it is intended
to foreclose, and the company reorganized, the minute the $100,000,000
of the public's money has passed into the treasurer's hands.

"Talk about your _deluge_!" continued the article. "This is indeed the
biggest thing in _deluges_ this little old world has ever known. The
Preadamite Steel Trust is a dewdrop alongside of it. Noah gets the
_salvage_, but the _people_ get the _water_!"

* * * * *

Such was the attitude of the public toward my son's great project, and
all I could ever get him to say in reply to these and other equally
nefarious charges was, while he had intended to have quarters for
every kind of beast on board his boat, he had now definitely decided
to leave out Mastodons, Muck-Rakers and Yellow Journalists!

Verily there seems to be some foundation to the belief that devotion
to the life of a seaman makes a man callous to assaults on his
personal reputation!

CHAPTER VIII

ON THE EXTINCTION OF THE MASTODON

The recent visit