* * * * *

It is within the range of possibility that this story may be doubted.
It doesn't matter; nothing can add to the despair of a man who has
lost two great auks.

As for Halyard, nothing affects him--except his involuntary sea-bath,
and that did him so much good that he writes me from the South that
he's going on a walking-tour through Switzerland--if I'll join him. I
might have joined him if he had not married the pretty nurse. I wonder
whether--But, of course, this is no place for speculation.

In regard to the harbor-master, you may believe it or not, as you
choose. But if you hear of any great auks being found, kindly throw a
table-cloth over their heads and notify the authorities at the new
Zoological Gardens in Bronx Park, New York. The reward is ten thousand
dollars.




VI


Before I proceed any further, common decency requires me to reassure
my readers concerning my intentions, which, Heaven knows, are far from
flippant.

To separate fact from fancy has always been difficult for me, but now
that I have had the honor to be chosen secretary of the Zoological