-table beside his medicine chest. And now he
proceeded to examine it thoroughly, lighting a powerful acetylene lamp
for the purpose.

And scarcely had the strong rays fallen upon the black, wicked,
lobster-like little iniquity than the Herr Professor let off a regular
yell of delight and literally fell upon Dick's neck.

"Ach, meine lieber!" he exclaimed ecstatically. "Aber this is most
wunderbahr! It is of the great fortune, good luck, what you call him?
That he sting you."

"Good luck?" said the surprised Sydney, feeling anything but pleased;
"well, professor, it's the kind of luck that I can very well do
without. Why, the blamed little thing must have been about a thousand
volts strong. Sting! why it must have squirted about a pint of forked
lightning into me! Luck?"

"Of the greatest," said the scientist; "of the most colossal. For it is
a discovery you have of him made he is new he is wonderful wunderschoen
wunderbahr!"

"You're wrong, professor," protested Dick with emphasis. "He discovered
me. He may be new newly charged, anyway!"

"Of a variety entirely new, Herr Sydney," insisted the old professor
impressively; "and much would I have given to have been in your place
to discover him."

"You'd have been welcome," said Dick feelingly; "but why?"

"It is my life-work, my stedenpferd, my 'hobby' you call it, hein? This
study of the arachnids, spiders, scorpions! Geology, you say? True,
that is my work, but this other is different, this I love! Already have
I four large volumes written upon the known varieties of scorpion and
now to have been but almost the discoverer of a new variety, it is hard
to have been so near. But at least I shall be the first to describe, to
classify, that honor you will grant me? It is hard to have been so
near!"

"Believe me, professor, it was a good deal harder to be just where I
was. But I see your point, and feel for you indeed I may say I'm
feeling it quite a lot even now. I'm mighty sorry the electric
gentleman with the red-hot trousers didn't sample you first as you say,
it's real hard he didn't. So do please take the fame and describe all
you want!"

It took a lot of persuasion to make the scientist see it in the light
that Dick did, but after a while he consented to name the new specimen
after himself, and sat down to examine and gloat over his treasure.

But first he showed Dick some of his books, thick tomes full of
illustrations of most weird and undesirable-looki