Part 7 (1/2)
”In the woods.”
”Doing what?”
”Nothing.”
There was a bit of down here and there clinging to his cotton s.h.i.+rt 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 gla.s.sy 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 Zoological 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. .h.i.therto 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.