e as I started for the woods; but as we passed
the beached boats Grue appeared from among the trees.

"Where have you been?" I demanded.

"In the woods."

"Doing what?"

"Nothing."

There was a bit of down here and there clinging to his cotton shirt and
trousers, and one had caught and stuck at the corner of his mouth.

"See here, Grue," I said, "I don't want you to kill any birds except for
camp purposes. Why do you try to catch and kill birds?"

"I don't."

I stared at the man and he stared back at me out of his glassy eyes.

"You mean to say that you don't, somehow or other, manage to catch and
kill birds?"

"No, I don't."

There was nothing further for me to say unless I gave him the lie. I
didn't care to do that, needing his services.

Evelyn Grey had come up to join us; there was a brief silence; we
all stood looking at Grue; and he looked back at us out of his pale,
washed-out, and unblinking eyes.

"Grue," I said, "I haven't yet explained to you the object of this
expedition to Black Bayou. Now, I'll tell you what I want. But first let
me ask you a question or two. You know the Black Bayou forests, don't
you?"

"Yes."

"Did you ever see anything unusual in these forests?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

The man stared at us, one after another. Then he said:

"What are you looking for in Black Bayou?"

"Something very curious, very strange, very unusual. So strange and
unusual, in fact, that the great Zooelogical Society of the Bronx in New
York has sent me down here at the head of this expedition to search the
forests of Black Bayou."

"For what?" he demanded, in a dull, accentless voice.

"For a totally new species of human being, Grue. I wish to catch one and
take it back to New York in that folding cage."

His green eyes had grown narrow as though sun-dazzled. Kemper had stepped
behind us into the woods and was now busy setting up the folding cage.
Grue remained motionless.

"I am going to offer you," I said, "the sum of one thousand dollars in
gold if you can guide us to a spot where we may see this hitherto unknown
species--a creature which is apparently a man but which has, in the back
of his head, a _third eye_--"

I paused in amazement: Grue's cheeks had suddenly puffed out and were
quivering; and from the corners of his slitted mouth he was emitting a
whimpering sound like the noise made by a low-circling pigeon.

"Grue!" I cried. "What's the matter with you?"

"What is _h