In Search of the Unknown
Page 10
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I lunched at my lodgings on the Quai Malthus, and I had but littleappetite, having fed upon such an unexpected variety of emotionsduring the morning.
Now, although I was already heels over head in love, I do not believethat loss of appetite was the result of that alone. I was slowlybeginning to realize what my recent attitude might cost me, not onlyin an utter collapse of my scientific career, and the consequentmaterial ruin which was likely to follow, but in the loss of all myfriends at home. The Zoological Society of Bronx Park and theSmithsonian Institution of Washington had sent me as their trusteddelegate, leaving it entirely to me to choose the subject on which Iwas to speak before the International Congress. What, then, would betheir attitude when they learned that I had chosen to uphold thedangerous theory of the existence of the ux.
Would they repudiate me and send another delegate to replace me? Wouldthey merely wash their hands of me and let me go to my owndestruction?
"I will know soon enough," thought I, "for this morning's proceedingswill have been cabled to New York ere now, and read at thebreakfast-tables of every old, moss-grown naturalist in America beforeI see the Countess d'Alzette this evening." And I drew from my pocketthe roll of paper which she had given me, and, lighting a cigar, layback in my chair to read it.
The manuscript had been beautifully type-written, and I had no troublein following her brief, clear account of the circumstances under whichthe notorious ux-skin had been obtained. As for the story itself, itwas somewhat fishy, but I manfully swallowed my growing nervousnessand comforted myself with the belief of Darwin in the existence of theux, and the subsequent testimony of Wallace, who simply stated what hehad seen through his telescope, and then left it to others to identifythe enormous birds he described as he had observed them stalking abouton the snowy peaks of the Tasmanian Alps.
My own knowledge of the ux was confined to a single circumstance.When, in 1897, I had gone to Tasmania with Professor Farrago, to makea report on the availability of the so-called "Tasmanian devil," as asubstitute for the mongoose in the West Indies, I of course heard agreat deal of talk among the natives concerning the birds which theyaffirmed haunted the summits of the mountains.
Our time in Tasmania was too limited to admit of an exploration then.But although we were perfectly aware that the summits of the TasmanianAlps are inaccessible, we certainly should have attempted to gain themhad not the time set for our departure arrived before we had completedthe investigation for which we were sent.
One relic, however, I carried away with me. It was a single greenishbronzed feather, found high up in the mountains by a native, and soldto me for a somewhat large sum of money.
Darwin believed the ux to be covered with greenish plumage; Wallacewas too far away to observe the color of the great birds; but all thenatives of Tasmania unite in affirming that the plumage of the ux isgreen.
It was not only the color of this feather that made me an eagerpurchaser, it was the extraordinary length and size. I knew of noliving bird large enough to wear such a feather. As for the color,that might have been tampered with before I bought it, and, indeed,testing it later, I found on the fronds traces of sulphate of copper.But the same thing has been found in the feathers of certain birdswhose color is metallic green, and it has been proven that such birdspick up and swallow shining bits of copper pyrites.
Why should not the ux do the same thing?
Still, my only reason for believing in the existence of the bird wasthis single feather. I had easily proved that it belonged to no knownspecies of bird. I also proved it to be similar to the tail-feathersof the ux-skin in Antwerp. But the feathers on the Antwerp specimenwere gray, and the longest of them was but three feet in length, whilemy huge, bronze-green feather measured eleven feet from tip to tip.
One might account for it supposing the Antwerp skin to be that of ayoung bird, or of a moulting bird, or perhaps of a different sex fromthe bird whose feather I had secured.
Still, these ideas were not proven. Nothing concerning the birds hadbeen proven. I had but a single fact to lean on, and that was that thefeather I possessed could not have belonged to any known species ofbird. Nobody but myself knew of the existence of this feather. And nowI meant to cable to Bronx Park for it, and to place this evidence atthe disposal of the beautiful Countess d'Alzette.
My cigar had gone out, as I sat musing, and I relighted it and resumedmy reading of the type-written notes, lazily, even a triflesceptically, for all the evidence that she had been able to collect tosubstantiate her theory of the existence of the ux was not half asimportant as the evidence I was to produce in the shape of thatenormous green feather.
I came to the last paragraph, smoking serenely, and leaning backcomfortably, one leg crossed over the other. Then, suddenly, myattention became riveted on the words under my eyes. Could I have readthem aright? Could I believe what I read in ever-growing astonishmentwhich culminated in an excitement that stirred the very hair on myhead?
"The ux exists. There is no longer room for doubt. Ocular proof I can now offer in the shape of _five living eggs_ of this gigantic bird. All measures have been taken to hatch these eggs; they are now in the vast incubator. It is my plan to have them hatch, one by one, under the very eyes of the International Congress. It will be the greatest triumph that science has witnessed since the discovery of the New World.
[Signed] "SUSANNE D'ALZETTE."
"Either," I cried out, in uncontrollable excitement--"either that girlis mad or she is the cleverest woman on earth."
After a moment I added:
"In either event I am going to marry her."