"It might—but I have as yet found none."
"Or perhaps," Colin again suggested, "some chemical which would unite with lime might be put into the water so that the oyster shell might be poisonous to the drill, but not for food, because we eat the oyster and not the shell."
The director laughed.
"That suggestion is new, at least," he said, "but I don't think it would work because this is a marine question and the water changes continuously. There must be some solution, there's always a way of doing everything, and some one will find it out. I'm going to stick at it till I do, that is, when I'm not engaged on other Bureau work. But I'm always glad of suggestions, and when you can help me in any way I'll let you know."
"Thank you ever so much, Mr. Prelatt," Colin answered; "I'll be glad to do anything I can."
The boy had a fertile brain, and, before a week had passed by, a line of experiment suggested itself to him in connection with the oyster-drill problem and he explained it to the director.
"To work that out properly would take several years!" the latter said tentatively.
"I thought it would," said Colin, "but perhaps some one else could carry it on, and the work ought to be done, anyway."
"You have the right idea," the director replied; "it's the problem, not the man who solves it. Now," he continued, "I have a surprise for you. Dr. Jimson, who has been working on swordfish for some time, is anxious to try and capture a large specimen and is going out with a swordfish sloop next week. I can probably arrange for the trap to be looked after, if you are off for a day or two. Do you want to go?"