 you learn in
this way, may yet be of great service to learning, should any accident occur to
me. Indeed, my worthy Ellen, mine is a pursuit, which has its dangers as well as
that of the warrior. This very night,« he continued, glancing his eye behind
him, »this awful night has the principle of life, itself, been in great danger
of extinction!«
    »By what?«
    »By the monster I have discovered. It approached me, often, and ever as I
receded it continued to advance. I believe nothing but the little lamp I carried
was my protector. I kept it between us whilst I wrote, making it serve the
double purpose of luminary and shield. But you shall hear the character of the
beast, and you may then, judge of the risks we promoters of science run in
behalf of mankind.«
    The naturalist raised his tabletts to the heavens and disposed himself to
read as well as he could, by the dim light, they yet shed upon the plain,
premising with saying -
    »Listen, girl, and you shall hear, with what a treasure it has been my happy
lot to enrich the pages of Natural History.«
    »Is it then a creature of your forming,« said Ellen, turning away from her
fruitless examination, with a sudden lighting of her sprightly blue eyes, that
shewed she knew how to play with the foible of her learned companion.
    »Is the power to give life to inanimate matter the gift of man; I would it
were! You should speedily see a Historia Naturalis, Americana, that would put
the sneering imitators of the Frenchman de Buffon to shame! A great improvement
might be made in the formation of all quadrupeds; especially those in which
velocity is a virtue. Two of the inferior limbs should be on the principle of
the lever - wheels, perhaps as they are now formed, though I have not yet
determined whether the improvement might be better applied to the anterior or
posterior members, inasmuch as I am yet to learn whether dragging or shoving
requires the greatest muscular exertion. A natural exudation of the animal,
might assist in overcoming the friction, and a powerful momentum be obtained.
But all this is hopeless; at least for the present,« he added, raising his
tabletts, again to the light and reading aloud. »Oct. 6, 1805, that's merely the
date which I dare say you know better than I, mem. Quadruped; seen by
star-light, and by the aid of a pocket lamp, in the
