The Washington herald., 1914-05-31
scopyrisAt. MA,

toepsnsht. MAJ
THE man with the SCARED face
leaned over the table and looked
at my bundle.
"orchids?" he asked.
"A few" said.
''Cyp-ipediumsY' he said.
Chiefly" said I.
Anything new? I thought not did
these islands -twenty-fve-twenty
years ago. II you find anything new
here-well. it's brand new. didn't leave
much"
I'm not q collector" said L
IT was young then" he went on. Lord!
how I used to fly around He seemed
to take my measure. II was in the East
Indies two years. and in Brazil seven.
Then I went to Madagascar"
.I know a few explorers by name" I
said, anticipating yarn. Who did you
collect for?"
.'Dawsons. wonder If you've heard
LQc ndInc Ol DutCDcT CNCt
.Butcher-Butcher?" The name seemed
vaguely present in my memory: then I
recalled Butcher versus Dawson. "whyi"
said I, you are the man who sued them
for four years salsry-got cast away on
a desert ISLAND
your servant" said the man with the
scar. bowling. eFunny case, wasn't It?
Here was me. making little fortune on
that island. doing nothing for It neither,
and them quite unable to give me notice.
It often used to amuse me thinking over
1t while was there. did calculations Of
ft-big-aIl over the blessed atoIl in orna-
mental figuring"
How did 1t happen?" said L II don't
rightly remember the case"
''well-you've heard Of the Aepyornis?'
Rather. Andrews was telling me Of a
new species he was working on only a
month or so ago. Just before sailed.
They've got a thigh bone, it seems. near
ly a yard long. Monster the thing must
have been"
IT believe you," said the man with the
scar. TT was a monster. Sinbad's roc
was just legend Of 'em. But when did
they find these bones?"
Several years ago-'g. I fancy Why"
"why?-Because found 'em-Lord!-
it's nearly twenty years ago. II Dawsons
hadn't been silly about that salary they
might have made a perfect ring in 'em.
I couldn't help the internal boat going
adrift."
He paused. II suppose It's the same
place. A kind Of swamp about ninety
miles north of Antananarivo. Do you
happen to know? You have to go to It
along the coast by boats. You don't
happen to remember, perhaps?"
II don't. 1 fancy Andrews said some
thing about a swamp"
TT must be the same. It's on the east
coast. And somehow there's something
in the water that keeps things from de-
caying. Like creosote It smells. It re-
minded me OF Trinidad. Did they get
any more eggs? Some Of the eggs I
found were a foot and a half long. The
swamp goes circling round. you know,
and cuts on this bit It's mostly salt, too.
Well
What time had Of It! I found the
things quite by accident We went for
eggs, me and two native chaps, in one
of those rum canoes ali tied together,
and found the bones at the same time
We had a tent and provisions for four
days, and we pitched on one Of the firm
er places. To think Of it brings that odd
tarry smell back even now. It's funny
work. You go probing into the mud with
iron rods, you knew. Usually the egg
gets smashed Il wonder how long It is
since these Aepyorpises really lived. The
missionaries say the natives have legends
about when they were alive, but I never
heard any such stories myself. But Ger
tainly those eggs we got were as fresh
as II they had been newlaid. Fresh, Car
rying them down to the boat one of my
Niger chaps dropped one on a rock and
it smashed. How damned into the beg
gar! But sweet it was as IL it was new
laid, not even smelly. and its mother dead
these 400 years perhaps. Said a centipede
had bit him.
However. I'm getting OF the straight
with the story. 1t had taken US all day
to dig into the slush and get these eggs
out unbrofen, and we were all covered
with beastly black mud. and naturally
was cro:s. So far as knew they were
the only eggs that had ever been got out
not even cracked. I went afterward to
see the ones they have at the Natural
History Museum in London; all of them
were cracked and just stuck together like
a mosaic. and bits missing Mine were
perfect. and I meant to blow them when
I got back. Naturally I was annoyed at
the silly devil dropping three hours. work
just on account of a centipede. I hit
him about rather"
The man with the scar took out a clay
pipe placed my pouch before him. He
filled up absentmindedly.
How about the others? Did you get
those home? I don't remember-
That's the queer part of the story. I
had three others. Perfectly fresh eggs.
Well. we put 'em in the boat. and then
I went Up to the tent to make some cof-
fee. leaving my two heathens down by
the beach-the one fooling about with his
sting and the other helping him. 1t never
occurred to me that the beggars would