great morasses which spread round the mouths of many of the great
European rivers."

"I haven't the least doubt, sir, that there may have been such monsters
as you have spoken of still existing at a much later period than is
generally accepted," replied Adam. "Also, if there were such things,
that this was the very place for them. I have tried to think over the
matter since you pointed out the configuration of the ground. But it
seems to me that there is a hiatus somewhere. Are there not mechanical
difficulties?"

"In what way?"

"Well, our antique monster must have been mighty heavy, and the distances
he had to travel were long and the ways difficult. From where we are now
sitting down to the level of the mud-holes is a distance of several
hundred feet--I am leaving out of consideration altogether any lateral
distance. Is it possible that there was a way by which a monster could
travel up and down, and yet no chance recorder have ever seen him? Of
course we have the legends; but is not some more exact evidence necessary
in a scientific investigation?"

"My dear Adam, all you say is perfectly right, and, were we starting on
such an investigation, we could not do better than follow your reasoning.
But, my dear boy, you must remember that all this took place thousands of
years ago. You must remember, too, that all records of the kind that
would help us are lacking. Also, that the places to be considered were
desert, so far as human habitation or population are considered. In the
vast desolation of such a place as complied with the necessary
conditions, there must have been such profusion of natural growth as