a
are destroyed, as the wild beasts of the forest have fled before the
face of man."

"Could that ever be done?"

"It will be done," the director answered, "but not in my time nor in
yours. It is a piece of work in which every step counts, and just one
summer's work may bring results that will help millions of people in the
years yet to come."

"And I shall have a share!" cried Colin, his enthusiasm kindling.

"Every one has a share; in the Fisheries, no work is wasted, no energy
is lost. Whether it be such research as that which you have seen me
doing upon the oyster drill, or the spectacular administration of the
seal herds on the Pribilof Islands, or the dry statistical work of
estimating the value of a fishery--on which work Dr. Crafts writes me
he is going to send you--each part has its place and a big place. The
aims of the Bureau are on so vast a scale that nothing is petty. We
think in terms of millions and tens of millions, and Nature responds.
There are more showy ways of helping the world, but for the
accomplishment of great results I know of none superior."

"You said, sir," said Colin, who had been startled by the reference to
himself, "that Dr. Crafts had some other work for me?"

"Yes," was the reply. "You know that the Laboratory here only keeps open
until the first of September, don't you?"

"Yes, Mr. Prelatt."

"What had you thought of doing between then and college?"

"I hadn't made any plans."

"I have a letter from the Deputy Commissioner, here," the director
continued, "in which he asks me if there is any one of the young fellows
whom I have had for the summer who would like to go with one of the
statistical field agents, and he suggests your name, should you wish to
go. It will be a short stay, not more than ten days or so, and won't
interfere with your getting back to college."

"I should like to go, ever so much," said Colin, "and I think it's
awfully good of Dr. Crafts to think of me."

"Very well, then," answered the director; "I'll write to him about it. I
thought you would accept, unless you had made other plans."

"I don't think I know much about the statistical side of the Bureau,"
said Colin; "just what does that take up?"

"Statistics mainly, but I can explain its value best by what I know it
has done," the director said thoughtfully. "One of the very best things
it accomplished, I think, was an investigation into the cause of the
heavy loss of life among the crews of N