d.

He repeated the word after me, sprang lightly into the saddle of
Griffin we had presented to him upon his arrival, and, followed by
his entourage, was off on the greatest hunt of his life. What happened
subsequently we never knew, for none of the party ever returned; but
what I do know is that my stratagem came too late.

A subsequent investigation of our preserves showed that all our
treasured mastodons from the Jurassic, Triassic, and other periods of
history, had been killed off, root, stock and branch, by our honored
guest, and poor Noah was reduced to the necessity of drumming up trade
among such commonplace creatures as the Rhinoceri, the Yak, the
Dromedary, and that vain but ornamental combination of fuss and
feathers known as the Hen.

The Ararat we still have with us, and as for me, I am inclined to
think that it will remain, flood or no flood, for any creature that
has successfully withstood a campaign against it by King Ptush cannot
be removed from the scene by anything short of a convulsion of
Nature.

CHAPTER IX

(This Chapter of the Autobiography of Methuselah is made up
entirely of fragments. The manuscript of the preceding
chapters was found in fine condition, and entirely
unobliterated by the passage of the centuries since it was
written, but beginning at this point cracks appear, and in
some places such complete fractures as make the continuity of
the narrative impossible. The fragments have been as
carefully deciphered as the complete chapters, however, and
are here presented for what they are worth.)

AS TO WOMEN

The position of woman among us will doubtless prove of interest to
posterity. Our matrimonial laws are not all that they should be, in
my judgment, though there are men who consider them as nearly perfect
as they can be made. The idea that the best way for a young man to
declare his love for a young girl is to hit her on the head with a
wooden club and then run off with her before she regains consciousness
has never received my approval, and never will. Something should be
left for the post-nuptial life, and I cannot see how after it has been
used as an instrument of courtship a club can take its place as it
ought to as an instrument of discipline in the household. My own wives
I have invariably caught in a trap, so that later on in life, when I
have found it desirable to emphasize my authority in my home by means
of a stout stick,