54 BRAGGADOCIO.

ful fancy for what he affected to despise—
namely, déles.

“ Mister Cramer, I am greatly obliged to
you,” replied Howard, with the slightest pos-
sible tone of derision.

“Here are the bones of one of owr mas-
todons, or mammoths. What do you think of
such an animal as this? Can England show
anything to equal that?’ demanded George,
pointing his cane at the huge bones.

“These are the remains of an animal of an
extinct species,” replied Howard.

“*T don’t doubt there are thousands of them
yet living in our unexplored western forests,”
said George.

“They would be known to naturalists as
such, if they were living at the present
time.”

* How could foreign naturalists know of all
the animals that range about those thousands
of miles of forest and prairie in the far West?
If you spoke of your own little island, it would
be different. Such immense creatures never
could have roamed about that little spot of
earth.”