to have seen,--take me back to the Dark Ages. I daresay
we're seeing the tag end of the giants. God knows how old these birds
and reptiles are,--hundreds of years, at least. I'd give almost anything
to get one of those birds and stuff him. There was once a flying animal
known as the pteranodon. It has been extinct for millions of years.
Belonged to the class called pterodactyls. Who knows? If you fellows
could shoot for sour apples, I'd have one of 'em."

Christmas and New Year's day, long since past, had been celebrated in
a mild, half-hearted way on board the Doraine. Easter was drawing
near, and Ruth Clinton took upon herself the task of arranging special
services for the children. She was going ahead with her plans when
her aunt, with some bitterness, advised her to consult the "King of
Babylon"--(a title surreptitiously accorded Percival by the unforgiving
lady)--before committing herself too deeply to the enterprise.

"It would be just like him to cut Easter out of the calendar
altogether," said she.

"He cannot possibly have any objection to an Easter service," protested
Ruth, her brow puckering.

"There's no telling what he will object to," said Mrs. Spofford.

"He is really quite tenderhearted, and awfully fond of children, you
know. I am sure he will be very much pleased with the--Besides," she
broke off to say with considerable heat, "Mr. Percival is not as high
and mighty as he imagines himself to be. Other people have something
to say about the management of this camp. You forget,--and so does he
perhaps,--that we have a council of ten. I rather fancy--"

"Pooh!" sniffed her aunt. "He is worse than all the Tammany bosses put
together. The other men on the council of ten eat out of his hand, as
Abel Landover says. His word is law,--or, I should have said, his smile
is law. All he has to do is to grin and the argument is over. I've
never seen anything like the way people give in when he smiles. It is
disgusting."

"Please don't forget, Auntie, that he did not smile on Saturday when
Manuel Crust stopped him in front of the meeting-house and said he was
going to take Sunday off from work up in the woods. He didn't smile
then, did he? And there were a dozen men planning to take the day off
with Manuel Crust, too."

"I confess I was frightened," admitted Mrs. Spofford, with a slight
shudder. "That Manuel Crust is a--a dangerous man. He carries a knife. I
saw it."

"Were your sympathies with Manuel Cru