t.

"We shall see new hues in the sunset, in the rainbow, in the flowers
and foliage of forest and field. We may possibly see creatures in the
air above never seen before.

"We shall certainly see creatures from the depths of the sea, where
visible light cannot reach--creatures whose substance is of such a
nature that it will not respond to the light it has never been exposed
to--a substance which is absolutely transparent because it will not
absorb, and appear black; will not reflect, and show a color of some
kind; and will not refract, and distort objects seen through it."

"What!" I exclaimed. "Do you think there are invisible creatures?"

He looked gravely at me for a moment, then said: "You know that there
are sounds that are inaudible to the human ear because of their too
rapid vibration, others that are audible to some, but not to all. There
are men who cannot hear the chirp of a cricket, the tweet of a bird, or
the creaking of a wagon wheel.

"You know that there are electric currents much stronger in voltage
than is necessary to kill us, but of wave frequency so rapid that the
human tissue will not respond, and we can receive such currents without
a shock. And _I know_"--he spoke with vehemence--"that there are
creatures in the deep sea of color invisible to the human eye, for I
have not only felt such a creature, but seen its photograph taken by
the ultraviolet light."

"Tell me," I asked breathlessly. "Creatures solid, but invisible?"

"Creatures solid, and invisible because absolutely transparent. It is
long since I have told the yarn. People would not believe me, and it
was so horrible an experience that I have tried to forget it. However,
if you care for it, and are willing to lose your sleep to-night, I'll
give it to you."

He reached for a pipe, filled it, and began to smoke; and as he smoked
and talked, some of the glamor and polish of the successful artist and
clubman left him. He was an old sailor, spinning a yarn.

"It was about thirty years ago," he began, "or, to be explicit,
twenty-nine years this coming August, at the time of the great Java
earthquake. You've heard of it--how it killed seventy thousand people,
thirty thousand of whom were drowned by the tidal wave.

"It was a curious phenomenon; Krakatoa Island, a huge conical mountain
rising from the bottom of Sunda Strait, went out of existence, while in
Java a mountain chain was leveled, and up from the bowels of the earth
came an