Part 38 (2/2)
”'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 jelly-fish.'
”'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 batlike and lizard-like creatures that inhabited the earth ages and ages ago, the bones of the gigantic saurians are the most interesting. I think they used to splash about the water and fly over the land during the carboniferous period; anyway, it doesn't matter. Of course you have seen pictures of reconstructed creatures such as the ichthyosaurus, the plesiosaurus, the anthracosaurus, and the thermosaurus?'
”I nodded, trying to keep my eyes from hers.
”'And you know that the remains of the thermosaurus were first discovered and reconstructed by papa?'
”'Yes,' said I. There was no use in saying no.
”'I am glad you do. Now, papa has proved that this creature lived entirely in the Gulf Stream, emerging for occasional flights across an ocean or two. Can you imagine how he proved it?'
”'No,' said I, resolutely pointing my nose at the ocean.
”'He proved it by a minute examination of the microscopical sh.e.l.ls found among the ribs of the thermosaurus. These sh.e.l.ls contained little creatures that live only in the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.
They were the food of the thermosaurus.'
”'It was rather slender rations for a thing like that, wasn't it? Did he ever swallow bigger food--er--men?'
”'Oh yes. Tons of fossil bones from prehistoric men are also found in the interior of the thermosaurus.'
”'Then,' said I, 'you, at least, had better go back to Captain McPeek's--'
”'Please turn around; don't be so foolish. I didn't say there was a live thermosaurus in the water, did I?'
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