Part-3
As we three walked slowly to the campfire, where our was now ready, Evelyn Grey, who walked us, told us what she about the of these three-eyed men by the Seminoles—how was the of the Indians for these people, how they toward any one of them they and catch.
"Tiger-tail told me," she on, "that in all the was extinction, but that all had not yet been now and then, when along Black Bayou, of three-eyed men were still by him and his people.
"No later than last week Tiger-tail himself had one of these of Black Bayou from a of fish; and had him through the and into the water. It that centuries of have these three-eyed men amphibious—that is, of their with air and under water almost as long as a turtle."
"That's impossible!" said Kemper bluntly.
"I so myself," she said with a smile, "until Tiger-tail told me a little more about them. He says that they can breathe through the of their skins; that their are with a thick, hair, and that when they they with them air to a of skin over them, so that under water their appear to be silver-plated."
"Good Lord!" Kemper. "That is a little too much!"
"Yet," said I, "that is what air-breathing water do. The of air, to the body-hairs, appear to silver-plate them; and they can indefinitely, through spiracles. Doubtless the skin of these men have taken on the of spiracles."
"You know," he said in a curious, voice, which like the of a man, "this whole is so grotesque—apparently so absurd—that it's having a of on me." And, his voice to a close to my ear: "Good heavens!" he said. "Can you such a as we are starting out to hunt, with anything to science?"
"No," I in tones. "And there are moments, Kemper, since I have come into of Miss Grey's story, when I myself my own sanity."
"I'm mine, now," he whispered, "only that girl is so fresh and and and sane—"
"She is a very girl," I said.
"And beautiful!"
"She is intelligent," I remarked. There was a in my which Kemper, for he nothing her personal attractions.
After all, if any questions of were to arise, the was my discovery. And in the scientific world it is an that he who any particular of any is to and upon that without or from anybody.
Maybe there was in my something that as much. For when Kemper my cold upon him he and looked away like a dog who better. Which also, for the moment, put an end to the and line of small talk which he had again with the waitress.
I was at Professor William Henry Kemper, D.F.
As we approached the the of my nostrils.
Kemper, at Grue, said to me:
"That's an odd-looking fellow. What is he? Minorcan?"
"Oh, just a beachcomber. I don't know what he is. He me as dirty—though he can't be so, physically. I don't like him and I don't know why. And I wish we'd somebody else to us."
Toward something me and I sat up in my under the moon. But my leg had not been pulled.
Kemper at my side. In her little dog-tent the was fast asleep. I it the she had to one of her still across the ground to my hand. In any I had only to it to her.
A string, to my ankle, ran to hers and under the of her tent. This was for her to if she liked. She had yet it. Nor I the other. Nevertheless I that these were, in a sense, that us together. No wonder Kemper's had me.
I looked up at the moon; I at Kemper's bulk, in a blanket; I the dog-tent with, perhaps, that of which a semi-tropical moon is likely to in a jellyfish. And I Grue and looked for him.
He was to sleep in his boat, but I did not see him in either of the boats. Here and there were a in the moonlight, but none of them was Grue on the ground. Where the had he gone?
Cautiously I my string, rose in my pajamas, into my slippers, and walked out through the moonlight.
There was nothing to Grue, no or the on the back-bone of the reef.
I walked as as the tree and looked up into the fronds. Nobody was up there. I see the sky through the fronds. Nor was Grue asleep on the other of the ridge.
And I aware of all my and for the man. And the of my me I had not how and my had been.
Also, his me as uncanny. Both were there; and there were many of sea to the nearest coast.
Troubled and puzzled I and walked to the of the fire. Kemper had the of his to a aria, which at any other time would have me. Now, somehow, it almost me.
Seated on the I looked out to sea, my for an of Grue's disappearance. And while I sat there them, out on the water a little of and rose with and wings.
For a moment I I saw a round, dark object on the where the had been.
And while I sat there watching, up out of the sea along the to my right a naked, a in his mouth.
Fascinated, I it, Grue with his black all over his face.
Whether he of me or not, I don't know; but he the from his mouth, turned, and under water.
It was a and of sport or pastime, this of his, wild and them about as though he were an animal.
Evidently he was of himself, for he had the duck. I it by on the waves, its under water. Suddenly something it under, a fish perhaps, for it did not come up and again, as as I see.
When I to Grue asleep on the north of the fire. I at him in and into my tent.
The next day Evelyn Grey with a and her tent. I had all I do to prevent Kemper from for her. I did that myself, her and her for hours at a time, while Kemper took one of Grue's and off into the and and for a which he said he how to concoct.
Toward the much better, and I Kemper and Grue that we should sail for Black Bayou after dinner.
Dinner was a mess, as usual, of and rice, and a of in which the only I were of crayfish.
After we had and had from the fire, Grue every of food into a and for it. To see him me sick, so I Miss Grey and Kemper, who had a green and were alternately from the milk it.
"To see him me sick."
Somehow or other there to me a about that performance, and it me uncomfortable; but I managed to a when they offered me a draught, and I took a at the milk—I don't know why, I don't like it. But the moon was up over the sea, now, and the was balmy, and I didn't to those two milk out of the same under a moon.
Not that my in Evelyn Grey was other than scientific. But after all it was I who had her.
We as soon as Grue, and snuffling, had up the last of food. Kemper offered to take Miss Grey into his boat, saying that he my was overcrowded, what with the paraphernalia, the cages, Grue, Miss Grey, and myself.
I sat on that suggestion, but offered to take my own and him Grue. He couldn't out of it, that his had been the of my boat, but he looked when Grue his boat.
As for me, I sail with something so near a that it me; and I looked at Evelyn Grey to see she had noticed the symptom.
Apparently she had not. She sat forward, her upon the moon. Had I been to any a scientific one—but let that pass.
Grue in Kemper's sail-boat led, and my out into the and dusk, now all under the high of the moon.
Dimly I saw of wild part and swim away to port and starboard, a of water for us to sail through; into the night from the sea mullet, silvery, quivering, into the wash with a splash.
Here and there in the moonlight black triangles, us, leading us, across and wake, all with sea-fire—the of great sharks.
"You need have no fear," said I to the waitress.
She said nothing.
"Of if you are afraid," I added, "perhaps you might to your seat."
There was room in the where I sat.
"Do you think there is any danger?" she asked.
"From sharks?"
"Yes."
"Reaching up and you?"
"Yes."
"Oh, I don't there is," I said, to the idea, I am to say, that the was a possibility.
She came over and seated herself me. I was very much of myself, but I not a ahead at the other boat, where Kemper sat forward, to extinction.
Every now and then I see him turn and his as though in an to what was going on in our boat.
There was nothing going on, nothing. The moon was magnificent; and I think the must have been a little tired, for her and at moments, while I was talking to her about a of Euplectilla on which I had a monograph. So she must have been tired, for the was interesting.
"You won't my operations with and tiller," I said to her kindly, "if you to your against my shoulder."
Evidently she was very tired, for she did so, and closed her eyes.
After a while, that she might over into the sea—but let that pass.... I don't know or not Kemper anything our boat. He his to it off his neck.
To be so utterly, so to science is a great safeguard for a man. Single-mindedness, however, need not of every impulse. I the closer—not that the night was cold, but it might so. Changes in the come swiftly. It is well to be prepared.
Her very soft against my shoulder. There to be a perfume about her hair. It was odd how she to be—almost, perhaps, a of scientific interest.
Her hands did not to be chilled; they did and soft.
I said to her: "When at home, I your mother you in; doesn't she?"
"Yes," she sleepily.
"And what she do then?" said I, with something of that with which I make scientific at a meeting of the Bronx Anthropological Association, when I preside.
"She me and out the light," said Evelyn Grey, innocently.
I don't know how much Kemper distinguish. He about and his until I it would come off, unless it had been on like the top of a piano stool.
A minutes later he his pistol twice; and Evelyn sat up. I why he fired; he offered any explanation.
