"'You know, of all the fossil remains of the great batlike and lizard-like creatures that inhabited the earth ages and ages ago, the bones of the gigantic saurians are the most interesting. I think they used to splash about the water and fly over the land during the carboniferous period; anyway, it doesn't matter. Of course you have seen pictures of reconstructed creatures such as the ichthyosaurus, the plesiosaurus, the anthracosaurus, and the thermosaurus?' "I nodded, trying to keep my eyes from hers. "'And you know that the remains of the thermosaurus were first discovered and reconstructed by papa?' "'Yes,' said I. There was no use in saying no. "'I am glad you do. Now, papa has proved that this creature lived entirely in the Gulf Stream, emerging for occasional flights across an ocean or two. Can you imagine how he proved it?' "'No,' said I, resolutely pointing my nose at the ocean. "'He proved it by a minute examination of the microscopical shells found among the ribs of the thermosaurus. These shells contained little creatures that live only in the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. They were the food of the thermosaurus.' "'It was rather slender rations for a thing like that, wasn't it? Did he ever swallow bigger food--er--men?' "'Oh yes. Tons of fossil bones from prehistoric men are also found in the interior of the thermosaurus.' "'Then,' said I, 'you, at least, had better go back to Captain McPeek's--' "'Please turn around; don't be so foolish. I didn't say there was a live thermosaurus in the water, did I?' "'Isn't there?' "'Why, no!' "My relief was genuine, but I thought of the rifle and looked suspiciously out to sea. "'What's the Winchester for?' I asked. "'Listen, and I will explain. Papa has found out--how, I do not exactly understand--that there is in the waters of the Gulf Stream the body of a thermosaurus. The creature must have been alive within a year or so. The impenetrable scale-armor that covers its body has, as far as papa knows, prevented its disintegration. We know that it is there still, or was there within a few months. Papa has reports and sworn depositions from steamer captains and seamen from a dozen different vessels, all corroborating one another in essential details. These stories, of course, get into the newspapers--sea-serpent stories--but papa knows that they confirm his theory that the huge body of this reptile is swinging along somewhere in the Gulf Stream.' "She opened her sunshade and held it over her. I noticed that she deigned to give me the benefit of about one-eighth of it. "'Your duty with that rifle is this: if we are fortunate enough to see the body of the thermosaurus come floating by, you are to take good aim and fire--fire rapidly every bullet in the magazine; then reload and fire again, and reload and fire as long as you have any cartridges left.'