drift material in the tail of the
comet was greatly intensified by the explosion of accompanying gases as
they came in contact with the atmosphere of our earth. All inflammable
material on the face of the globe, which was exposed at the time of its
passage through the tail of the comet, was burned up: both earth and sky
were on fire! Fortunately our flying globe made a quick passage, thus it
happened that large portions of its unexposed surface wholly escaped
this terrible downpour of fire and gravel, and the absence of all drift
deposit on these places is logically accounted for. The atmosphere, so
heated during that awful period, drank up the waters of the earth--then
came the floods, as the waters fell again. Then followed the reaction
period of extreme cold, snow and ice--the glacial period. This
particular rock, while following in the train of its parent comet,
though lagging many thousands of miles behind, still, being so very
large, moved with accelerated speed towards the comet's head, passing on
its way countless millions of smaller particles, whose cutting edges
scored these grooves. On entering the earth's atmosphere, on account of
its great size, this boulder, through the law of attraction, quickly
moved to the outermost fringe of the comet's tail nearest the earth,
therefore was the first to alight on the top of this mountain, far away
from all smaller drift material.

"I hope, Miss Fenwick, that my brief and rather speculative answers to
your questions, reasoning as I did, from Mr. Donnelly's point of view,
may prove at least in a measure satisfactory."

"Thank you, Mr. Flagg," said Fern Fenwick, "your answers to my questions
have all been very ingenious: equally interesting and satisfactory,
especially as to how this mammoth conglomerate came by its grooved lines
and, later how it managed to find a resting place on this mountain top,
so far from its kind. Mr. Donnelly's theory of accounting for the
widely scattered deposits of the drift formation is the most reasonable
and logical of anything I have ever read or heard. Doubtless, in course
of time, it may be proven the only true one. I see Mr. Gaylord and Mrs.
Bainbridge are becoming weary of all this talk about rocks: let us move
further back from the point in search of more sheltered and comfortable
seats."

Accordingly they chose the central path and were soon seated, enjoying
the changed landscape from a new point of view. However, Mr. Gaylord was