istake the acolyte for the high priest." (At this point
Mr. Waldron whispered to the chairman, who half rose and said something
severely to his water-carafe.) "But enough of this!" (Loud and
prolonged cheers.) "Let me pass to some subject of wider interest.
What is the particular point upon which I, as an original investigator,
have challenged our lecturer's accuracy? It is upon the permanence of
certain types of animal life upon the earth. I do not speak upon this
subject as an amateur, nor, I may add, as a popular lecturer, but I
speak as one whose scientific conscience compels him to adhere closely
to facts, when I say that Mr. Waldron is very wrong in supposing that
because he has never himself seen a so-called prehistoric animal,
therefore these creatures no longer exist. They are indeed, as he has
said, our ancestors, but they are, if I may use the expression, our
contemporary ancestors, who can still be found with all their hideous
and formidable characteristics if one has but the energy and hardihood
to seek their haunts. Creatures which were supposed to be Jurassic,
monsters who would hunt down and devour our largest and fiercest
mammals, still exist." (Cries of "Bosh!" "Prove it!" "How do YOU know?"
"Question!") "How do I know, you ask me? I know because I have visited
their secret haunts. I know because I have seen some of them."
(Applause, uproar, and a voice, "Liar!") "Am I a liar?" (General
hearty and noisy assent.) "Did I hear someone say that I was a liar?
Will the person who called me a liar kindly stand up that I may know
him?" (A voice, "Here he is, sir!" and an inoffensive little person in
spectacles, struggling violently, was held up among a group of
students.) "Did you venture to call me a liar?" ("No, sir, no!"
shouted the accused, and disappeared like a jack-in-the-box.) "If any
person in this hall dares to doubt my veracity, I shall be glad to have
a few words with him after the lecture." ("Liar!") "Who said that?"
(Again the inoffensive one plunging desperately, was elevated high into
the air.) "If I come down among you----" (General chorus of "Come,
love, come!" which interrupted the proceedings for some moments, while
the chairman, standing up and waving both his arms, seemed to be
conducting the music. The Professor, with his face flushed, his
nostrils dilated, and his beard bristling, was now in a proper Berserk
mood.) "Every great discoverer has been met with the same
incr