Part 36 (1/2)
”Yes, Dr Crafts,” the boy replied; ”he told ht so,” was the reply ”I reht you wanted to take a ride?”
”I'ood swimmer, sir,” Colin answered a little proudly
”You mean you can swim,” the Deputy Co
”Yes, sir,” the boy said; ”that hat Iat Beaufort If you knew a little more about these subjects, you wouldn'tup on the one on whichon to the shell, is an aquatic species and never comes into brackish water The terrapin lives in the mud, and is only to be found infor your vacation, why, go ahead, no one's going to stop you, but you can hardly do that while officially or even unofficially acting as an assistant at Beaufort It's almost as far from Beaufort to the Florida Keys as it is from here to Hudson's Bay”
”I hadn't realized that, sir,” Colin answered, surprised
”Very few people do,” was the reply ”Why, the State of Florida alone is as long as the distance froton to Detroit You can't go after leather-turtle froued boots, but seven-leagued fins”
”I'm sorry I bothered you about it, Dr Crafts,” the boy answered ”I really hadn't given the distances ht”
”Wait a bit,” said the Deputy Coo ”I don't want you to feel badly about your summer What do you know about mussels?”
”Very little, sir,” the boy answered; ”hardly anything”
”Let me tell you a story about the as the boy's face lighted up at the word ”story” ”Seven or eight centuries ago,” his friend began--”that is, if you want to hear it?”
”Oh, yes, sir,” ca-vessel recked in the Bay of Biscay on the west coast of France, near the little village of Esnandes All hands were lost except one sailor, an Irishot ashore,” coenious son of Erin,” the other continued
”Although he did not speak a word of French, with the likeableness that seems to have been the chief note of the Irish character then, and which they have never lost, Walton speedily becae This was the reat scarcity of food in the village, the inhabitants depending entirely on fishi+ng, and the fishi+ng-grounds having becoer for whom to provide food became a serious problem
”But the Irish had not been the teachers and scholars of Europe during the five preceding centuries for nothing, and though Walton was but a sailor, he shared the quick-wittedness of his race He had heard somewhere that people often starved in thefor food on his own account The village was built near a wide stretch of h tide, but dry when the water went down, and he noticed that nu over theup worly, patching together all the old bits of net that could be found and e net two or three hundred yards long Then he drove a nuht and day, and stretched the net vertically about ten feet above thelike a fish-trap, so that birds flying under would find it difficult to get out On the very first night the net was spread, he caught enough birds to feed the village for a week”
”Bully for hi,” the Deputy Coan to consider what food it was that attracted these birds, and to his surprise, instead of worms, found that they lived on an unknown black shellfish, now called ood to eat, Walton reasoned that mussels must be fit for food He ate some in order to find out”
”That's the real scientific spirit,” said Colin, laughing
”He was Irish and willing to take a chance,” was the s rejoinder
”However that ood to eat, but that they were good eating He had hard work to persuade the villagers to his point of view, although his success with the birds had made hireat dereat nued stakes of his net, and being prolific of ideas, he promptly had several hundred more stakes cut and driven into the mud He found, then, that rew fatter and of better flavor, and accordingly designed fra branches which collected them by hundreds This system, known as the 'buchot' systee of Esnandes during all the centuries since that tie last year was over one hundred and twelve thousand dollars as a result of the ingenuity of the castaway Irishman”
”Then ht they were only used for bait”
”Mussels, sea-ood a food as clams,--some people claim that they are better,--and they have just about three times as much food value as the oyster That's why I told you the story We expect to iving e what is practically a new food supply in the United States, although it is cohout the shore countries of Europe”
”But the pearl mussels,” queried Colin, ”can you eat those, too?”
”It is doubtful,” was the reply, ”but their value lies so largely in their use for mother-of-pearl in the button industry, that their food value would be of only secondary importance, unless they could be pickled or canned, as is done sometimes with the sea-mussels But, Colin,” he added, ”if you think that thesubject, let me tell you that I think it is, in itself, one of thecreatures in the water Its life history is astounding, and there are scores of proble the lad a Bulletin of the Bureau; ”it has only just cohtly, you'll coet to ayou!”
[Illustration: CLAMMING ON THE MISSISSIPPI