Part 26 (1/2)
”After that it would see, but----” he reached into his pocket and pulled out the tuna button, safely stoay in a tightly-closed box
The Deputy Commissioner whistled softly in surprise
”And did you win this, too?” he asked ”You went to Santa Catalina, then?”
”Yes, Dr Crafts,” the boy replied, and related his experiences while there He told the story well, and the Deputy Commissioner--as a master in that art--nodded appreciatively
”So far as I can judge,” he said, ”the Bureau is the place for you But I don't knohere to fit you in It is getting on towards the ed for the summer, but most of it is done”
”I just want to be at work,” pleaded the boy, ”for the experience, not for what I can get out of it, of course”
”That sort of arrangement is impossible,” answered the Deputy Commissioner; ”there is plenty of volunteer work done in the Bureau, but such work is always along the line of special investigation, and it is given to those who are equipped for research, usually university professors The assistants are always paid, and you see I couldn't very well create a precedent on your account!”
”No, Dr Crafts,” answered Colin, quite disheartened; ”I suppose not”
The Deputy Cohtfully
”It happens,” he said, ”that a friend of mine who is attached to the American Museum of Natural History--that's the New York et so, and the Museu help on the island”
”Yes, sir,” the boy said, wondering as co
”Now,” the Fisheries official continued, ”if he has got to have help it o with him, but you may have to pay your way across What salary you receive over there would just about meet the expenses of the trip, so that you would break even Would you like to do it?”
”I'd rather start in on the Bureau,” Colin answered, but he ise enough not to refuse an opportunity, and continued, ”but if you think it would be a good thing for me to do, why, of course, I'm ready”
”I think it would be an excellent chance,” the Deputy Commissioner said, ”because we do very little work around the Bahaive you an idea of the fish-life there which, otherwise, you et And if you tried any Bureau work now, you would be handicapped by not having started with the other boys, and you'd be so far behind that you ht feel badly about it So the Bermuda opportunity seems to me the best chance”
”What is the purpose of the trip, sir?” asked the boy
”To prepare a ive people an idea of the sea-gardens as they really are Part of the model will be of prepared specilass I understand that Mr Collier wants to study especially the sea anees, and the sea-fans; also, to note the habits of the fish peculiar to the coral reefs, and show the about in their natural habitat”
”That would be awfully interesting!” said Colin
”It will teach you a lot,” rejoined the Deputy Commissioner, ”and you can't ever know too much about sea-life The real backboned fishes, hich the Bureau principally deals, are only a so and call on this gentleman, then, Dr Crafts?” the boy asked
”You had better drop in and see me this afternoon,” was the reply ”I'll telephone to Mr Collier and ask him to take lunch with me and we'll talk it over then Suppose you come in about half-past two o'clock, and if he takes kindly to the scheme I'll have him meet you here If he has other plans, why, there's no har else”
Thanking his new-found friend heartily, but not quite sure whether he liked this way of shelving him from the Bureau for a season, Colin , where he felt that the two young fur seals were old friends As it happened, a couple of boys about his own age ca their re that they had all sorts of wrong ideas about the seals He waxed so enthusiastic that, as other people caathered around him and, before Colin was really conscious of it, he had quite an audience A them was an old attendant of the Bureau who, as it happened, had been on the Pribilof Islands with Dr Brown Goode, in 1872 He listened for a while, then said:
”I beg your pardon, sir, but have you been in St Paul recently?”
”I was there this spring,” Colin replied
”It's just forty years this summer, sir, since I was on the islands