A Matter of Interest | Page 9

interior was lighted by the numberless little portholes, and I could
see everything plainly. I acknowledge I was nonplussed by what I did
see.
In the centre of the shed, which must have been at least a hundred feet
long, stood what I thought at first was the skeleton of an enormous
whale. After a moment's silent contemplation of the thing I saw that it
could not be a whale, for the frames of two gigantic bat-like wings rose
from each shoulder. Also I noticed that the animal possessed legs--four
of them--with most unpleasant-looking webbed claws fully eight feet
long. The bony framework of the head, too, resembled something
between a crocodile and a monstrous snapping turtle. The walls of the
shanty were hung with drawings and blue prints. A man dressed in
white linen was tinkering with the vertebræ of the lizard-like tail.
"Where on earth did such a reptile come from?" I asked at length.
"Oh, it's not real!" said Daisy scornfully; "it's papier-mache."
"I see," said I--"a stage prop."
"A what?" asked Daisy, in hurt astonishment.
"Why, a--a sort of Siegfried dragon-- a what's-his-name----er, Pfafner,
or Peffer, or--"
"If my father heard you say such things he would dislike you," said
Daisy. She looked grieved, and moved toward the door. I
apologized--for what, I knew not--and we became reconciled. She ran
into her father's room and brought me the rifle, a very good Winchester.
She also gave me a cartridge belt, full.
"Now," she smiled, "I shall take you to your observatory, and when we
arrive you are to begin your duty at once."
"And that duty?" I ventured, shouldering the rifle.
"That duty is, to watch the ocean. I shall then explain the whole

affair--but you mustn't look at me while I speak; you must watch the
sea."
"This," said I, "is hardship. I had rather go without the luncheon."
I do not think she was offended at my speech; still she frowned for
almost three seconds.
We passed through acres of sweet bay and spear grass, sometimes
skirting thickets of twisted cedars, sometimes walking in the full glare
of the morning sun, sinking into shifting sand where sun-scorched
shells crackled under our feet, and sun-browned seaweed glistened,
bronzed and iridescent. Then, as we climbed a little hill, the sea wind
freshened in our faces, and lo! the ocean lay below us, far-stretching as
the eye could reach, glittering, magnificent.
Daisy sat down flat on the sand. It takes a clever girl to do that and
retain the respectful deference due her from men. It takes a graceful girl
to accomplish it triumphantly when a man is looking.
"You must sit beside me," she said--as though it would prove irksome
to me.
"Now," she continued, "you must watch the water while I am talking."
I nodded.
"Why don't you do it, then?" she asked.
I succeeded in wrenching my head toward the ocean, although I felt
sure it would swing gradually round again in spite of me.
"To begin with," said Daisy Holroyd, "there's a thing in that ocean that
would astonish you if you saw it. Turn your head!"
"I am," I said meekly.
"Did you hear what I said?"

"Yes--er--a thing in the ocean that's going to astonish me." Visions of
mermaids rose before me.
"The thing," said Daisy, "is a Thermosaurus!
I nodded vaguely, as though anticipating a delightful introduction to a
nautical friend.
"You don't seem astonished," she said reproachfully.
"Why should I be?" I asked.
"Please turn your eyes toward the water. Suppose a Thermosaurus
should look out of the waves!"
"Well," said I, "in that case the pleasure would be mutual."
She frowned, and bit her upper lip.
"Do you know what a Thermosaurus is?" she asked.
"If I am to guess," said I, "I guess it's a jellyfish."
"It's that big, ugly, horrible creature that I showed you in the shed!"
cried Daisy impatiently.
"Eh!" I stammered.
"Not papier-mache either," she continued excitedly; "it's a real one."
This was pleasant news. I glanced instinctively at my rifle and then at
the ocean.
"Well," said I at last, "it strikes me that you and I resemble a pair of
Andromedas waiting to be swallowed. This rifle won't stop a beast, a
live beast, like that Nibelungen dragon of yours."
"Yes, it will," she said; "it's not an ordinary rifle."

Then, for the first time, I noticed, just below the magazine, a cylindrical
attachment that was strange to me.
"Now, if you will watch the sea very carefully, and will promise not to
look at me," said Daisy, "I will try to explain."
She did not wait for me to promise, but went on eagerly, a sparkle of
excitement in her blue eyes:
"You know, of all the fossil remains of the great bat-like