The Boy With the U. S. Fisheries Part 37

Colin examined so carefully every one he caught, that he began to think that if the fish were thrown back into the stream and hooked out again, he could recognize each one of them. His eagerness to be at work reached boiling point when a newspaper arrived at the camp with a brief item telling of the excitement caused by the finding of pearls near Fairport.

Fortunately, it was only a day or two before the date set for his departure, and Colin was on the point of starting for Was.h.i.+ngton, when he received a letter ordering him to his post on the Mississippi immediately. He took the next train, and reported two days later at the hatchery.

"Are you coming for any special line of work?" the superintendent asked him. "I was informed from Was.h.i.+ngton that you were coming, but nothing was said as to the nature of your duties."

"Nothing more than that Dr. Crafts said I should probably be working on mussels, sir," the boy answered. "I was just told to report."

"The Deputy Commissioner states," the superintendent continued, looking over the letter, "that you expect to join the Bureau permanently, and that you have been doing some work at college on fishes."

"I haven't done very much, as yet, sir."

"I suppose not. But I want to find out what you know about mussels."

This put the boy on his mettle.

Colin told briefly, but quite clearly, what he remembered of the life-history of the fresh-water mussel as described in the Bulletin that had been given him, and added the information he had secured from the Deputy Commissioner. The superintendent of the station put a few leading questions to him, and nodded his head with satisfaction.

"So far as theory goes," he said, "I think you have a fairly good idea of it, although here and there you made some statements showing the need of a good deal of practical work with mussels. But, since you seem to have a general idea of the anatomy and physiology, I think I will put you in as Dr. Edelstein's a.s.sistant."

"What is he doing, sir?" queried Colin.

"He is working on pearl formations," was the answer. "You have heard, I suppose, that there has been some excitement over pearl finds?"

"Yes, I heard that away up in Maine," the boy replied.

"It's exaggerated a good deal," the superintendent said; "but as a matter of fact, there have been a few good finds. Dr. Edelstein is studying the differences between oyster and mussel pearls. Of course, when one of these 'rushes' comes, a very large number of inferior pearls are found, which are of no commercial value but which afford good material to work on. Just now," he added, "I think it is the most interesting part of the work. Come along, and I'll introduce you to Dr.

Edelstein."

Colin's new chief was an entirely different type from any of the scientists whom he had met in the Bureau. In the first place, he was a gem expert by profession, and consequently, more of a mineralogist than biologist. Tall, powerfully built, black-bearded, and abrupt, he gave an impression of volcanic force, and at the same time of great keenness. A scientist of remarkable discernment, he possessed with all his broad views a marvelous capacity for detail, and Colin soon learned that the somewhat slipshod methods of a college laboratory would not be accepted by Dr. Edelstein.

"It iss of no use to think that a result iss right!" he said, when Colin betrayed a hint of impatience at performing the same experiment over and over again, scores of times. "It iss to know for certainly, that we work."

"I really believe, Dr. Edelstein," Colin said, "that you would like to see this fail once or twice."

"Of gourse! Then we find out why it iss a failure. That iss a good way to learn."

But in spite of the strictness of the discipline under which he was kept by his chief, Colin enjoyed the work. His duties were manifold. Some days he would spend entirely in the laboratory preparing microscope slides or observing mussel parasites through the microscopes, and making copious notes. His power as a colorist stood him in good stead again, and more than once he received a rare word of praise, feeling quite elated when, one day, late in the summer, Dr. Edelstein said to him:

"I have much gonfidence in your golor sense, Golin."

At the same station, one of the younger men was finis.h.i.+ng a monograph on the spoonbill-cat, a sturgeon of the lower Mississippi, often six feet in length and a hundred pounds in weight, just coming into commercial importance as the source of caviare. The 'paddle-fish,' as the creature is often called by the negroes, because of its long paddle-shaped jaw, or 'nose,' formed an interesting study to Colin, for he knew enough about the make-up of fishes to realize that this was a very ancient form, midway between the sharks and the true bony fishes. The paddle-fish is closely allied to the sturgeon, and its roe has recently been found to be almost as good for caviare as the Russian variety.

Thus, within ten years, a new fis.h.i.+ng industry has developed on the Mississippi River.

In addition to his laboratory work and to his share in the investigations of his friend who was studying the paddle-fish, Colin frequently took short trips up or down the river for Dr. Edelstein, the latter being anxious to procure measurements and other data on every pearl found. It was on one of these trips that Colin had the opportunity of seeing the panicky side of a 'pearl fever,' of which he had heard so much. The report had come to the station that a pearl of fair size, valued at about five hundred dollars, had been found, four miles below the station, and Colin was told to go down and make a report on it as soon as he had finished his afternoon's work. Accordingly, after supper, he took a small power-boat and ran downstream, taking with him a very sensitive pair of scales to determine the exact weight of the pearl, calipers to ascertain its size, and other instruments especially designed by Dr. Edelstein. At the same time, he was ordered to secure the sh.e.l.l from which the pearl had been taken, should it be obtainable.

The pearl was measured carefully and found to be a fine one, not large and not unusual in any way, though a certain irregularity in the position of its formation on the sh.e.l.l gave it a scientific interest.

The lucky finder was entirely willing to yield up the sh.e.l.l of the mussel from which the pearl had been taken, and was glad to be informed as to its weight and purity. It was pleasant to Colin to see--as he so often did--the success of the pearl-hunters. But while the boy was examining the stone, a loud knock at the door, was heard, and a neighbor came in, breathless and excited.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LANDING THE PADDLEFISH.

New industry developed in the lower Mississippi, catching sturgeon-like fish for its roe.

_By permission of Dr. Louis Hussakoff._]

"I've got one," he cried. "I've got a big one!"

Every one present crowded round with cries of congratulation.

Slowly the newcomer opened his hand and revealed a large pearl almost twice the size of the gem Colin had been examining, and, therefore, if of equal purity, worth eight times as much. The finder handed it around, and in course of time it reached the boy, who scrutinized it carefully.

"Isn't it a beauty?" the newcomer cried. "And just on the very last day!

I haven't a penny left in the world, and I sold my old farm to come up here. It's been getting harder and harder for me every day, and we had decided to give it all up. I hadn't a bit of hope left, and now----!"

The cottager whose pearl Colin had come down to inspect, slapped the farmer on the back, and without a trace of enviousness--for he himself had been lucky--joined in his delight. The farmer's wife had followed him more sedately, and she came in to share the general enthusiasm.

But Colin sat silent.

Over and over again, with a childish persistence, the farmer told how he had sold his farm, how he had come up with every penny he owned, how, little by little, it had all oozed away, and how in disgust he had decided to sell his boat, which would give him just enough money to get back to Missouri.

"But now, Mary," he said, "we can go back and get a better farm than we ever had, and we'll have a house in the village so that the children can go to a good school, and you'll have lots o' friends, and pretty things about you. It's been hard, neighbors, I tell you," he said, looking round; "but the luck has turned at last."

Colin said not a word, but kept his eyes fixed on the table. His host, the mussel-gatherer, whose stone he had been examining, noticed this, but the newcomer was boisterous in his joy. He babbled of the wealth that was his, until if the stone had been a diamond of equal size, it would not have sufficed to have financed his dreams.

But the boy with the instruments on the table before him, said not a word of congratulation or delight. He had only seen the pearl for a moment, but he knew.

With hearty and jovial hospitality, the farmer invited every one in the room to come and stay with him as soon as he was settled down. He would show them, he said, what real life was like on a farm.

Suddenly he stopped.

"Mister!" he said, in an altered voice.

Colin, sitting alone, still beside his testing instruments, did not look up.

"Mister!" he said again.

In spite of himself the boy raised his eyes. Do what he might, he could not keep the sorrow out of them, and those of the finder of the pearl met his fairly.

The room was full of people but it grew still as death.

The woman clasped her husband's arm and gave a low moan. He touched her shoulder gently.

"Mister," he said again, with a humbleness that seemed strangely gentle after all his bl.u.s.ter and brag, "will you look at this and tell me what you think it's worth?"

"I'm not an expert," the boy said hastily. "I couldn't judge its value.

You ought to take it to some one that knows all about these things."

"I can see what you think," the farmer said with a pitiful, sad smile; "you think it isn't worth much. Is it worth anything at all?"

Colin took the discolored pearl and looked at it closely. He put it on the scales and weighed it carefully, measured it, and scrutinized it as closely as he could in the lamplight, but he knew himself that these were devices to gain time. The pearl showed all too clearly a flaw that would make it valueless. Every one waited for his verdict. He was conscious that his voice was a little shaky, but he answered as steadily as he could: