ck more bills onto New York State than ennybody.'

"'Have you?' I said, angrily.

"'Yes, siree! I always pick out the purtiest spots--kinder filled
chuck full of woods and brooks and things; then I h'ist my paste-pot
onto a rock, and I slather that rock with gum, and whoop she goes!'

"'Whoop what goes?'

"'The bill. I paste her onto the rock, with one swipe of the brush for
the edges and a back-handed swipe for the finish--except when a bill
is folded in two halves.'

"'And what do you do then?' I asked, disgusted.

"'Swipe twice,' said Frisby, with enthusiasm.

"'And you don't think it injures the landscape?'

"'Injures it!' he exclaimed, convinced that I was attempting to joke.

"I looked wearily out to sea. He also looked at the water and sighed
sentimentally.

"'Floatin' buoys with bills onto 'em is a idea of mine,' he observed.
'That damn ocean is monotonous, ain't it?'

"I don't know what I might have done to Frisby--the rifle was so
convenient--if his mean yellow dog had not waddled up at this
juncture.

"'Hi, Davy, sic 'em!' said Frisby, expectorating upon a clam-shell and
hurling it seaward. The cur watched the flight of the shell
apathetically, then squatted in the sand and looked at his master.

"'Kinder lost his spirit,' said Frisby, 'ain't he? I once stuck a bill
onto Davy, an' it come off, an' the paste sorter sickened him. He was
hell on rats--once!'

"After a moment or two Frisby took himself off, whistling cheerfully
to Davy, who followed him when he was ready. The rifle burned in my
fingers.

"It was nearly six o'clock when the professor appeared, spade on
shoulder, boots smeared with mud.

"'Well,' he said, 'nothing to report, Dick, my boy?'

"'Nothing, professor.'

"He wiped his shining face with his handkerchief and stared at the
water.

"'My calculations lead me to believe,' he said, 'that our prize may be
due any day now. This theory I base upon the result of the report from
the last sea-captain I saw. I cannot understand why some of these
captains did not take the carcass in tow. They all say that they
tried, but that the body sank before they could come within half a
mile. The truth is, probably, that they did not stir a foot from their
course to examine the thing.'

"'Have you ever cruised about for it?' I ventured.

"'For two years,' he said, grimly. 'It's no use; it's accident when a
ship falls in with it. One captain reports it a thousand miles from
where the la