"Something exciting has happened at last! The Leverings brought a friend
to call this afternoon, who has just arrived in Lone-Rock to spend the
rest of vacation with them; a grumpy, middle-aged, absent-minded, old
professor from the East, who seemed rather bored with us at first. But
when he was taken out to the side-show in the 'Zoo,' he waked up in a
hurry. His very spectacles gleamed and his gray whiskers bristled with
interest when he saw my assortment of pressed wild-flowers from the
desert, and the collection of butterflies and trap-door spiders and
other insects in my 'Buggery,' as Norman calls it. When I showed him all
the data I had collected from text-books and encyclopaedias about the
insect and plant life of the desert, and all the notes I had made myself
from my own observations, he actually whistled with surprise. He sat
and fired questions at me like a Gatling gun for nearly an hour,
winding up by asking me if I had any idea what a valuable collection I
had made, and if I would be willing to part with it.

"Then it came out that he is a noted naturalist who is preparing a set
of books on insects and their relation to plant life, and is spending a
year in the West on purpose to study the varieties here. Some of my
specimens are so rare he has not come across them before, and he said my
notes would save him weeks of time--in fact, would be like a blazed
trail through a wilderness, showing him where to go to verify my
observations without loss of time.

"Of course, when it comes to the pinch, I _don't_ want to part with my
beautiful collection of specimens. It means a great deal to me; I was
over four years making it. But it is too great an opportunity to let
pass. He is to name the price to-morrow after he has made a careful
estimate, so I don't know how much he will offer, but Mrs. Levering says
it is sure to be far more than an inexperienced teacher or stenographer
could earn in a whole summer.

"How I have worried and fretted and fumed because I had no way to make
money here! Now besides what I get for my specimens I am to have a
chance to earn a little more. Professor Carnes will be here till cold
weather, and since I can give him 'intelligent assistance,' as he calls
it, he will have work for me in connection with his notes, copying and
indexing them, and gathering new material.

"Now you can go back to saving up for your year abroad, and give the
family the honour of claiming _one_ member with a c