"Well?" he asked.

"It is no doubt a curious formation," said I "but I am not
geologist enough to say that it is wonderful."

"Wonderful!" he repeated. "It is unique. It is incredible. No one
on earth has ever dreamed of such a possibility. Now the next."

I turned it over, and gave an exclamation of surprise. There was
a full-page picture of the most extraordinary creature that I had
ever seen. It was the wild dream of an opium smoker, a vision
of delirium. The head was like that of a fowl, the body that of
a bloated lizard, the trailing tail was furnished with upward-
turned spikes, and the curved back was edged with a high serrated
fringe, which looked like a dozen cocks' wattles placed behind
each other. In front of this creature was an absurd mannikin,
or dwarf, in human form, who stood staring at it.

"Well, what do you think of that?" cried the Professor, rubbing
his hands with an air of triumph.

"It is monstrous--grotesque."

"But what made him draw such an animal?"

"Trade gin, I should think."

"Oh, that's the best explanation you can give, is it?"

"Well, sir, what is yours?"