He stood with his hands behind his back, and his spectacles on the end of his nose, looking up at the specimens on the shelves; and he seemed to be talking more to himself than to Oscar.
"A generous and public-spirited citizen of Yarmouth has given to our university a hundred thousand dollars, which is to be expended in founding as fine a museum as that amount of money will pay for. The birds and animals of our country are to be represented first, mounted in a life-like manner, and looking, if possible, as natural as they do in their wild haunts. Those of other countries are to be taken in hand afterward.
"We have already gathered a few specimens, though in a desultory way, and some of them are declared by experts to be very imperfect. Of the order Ruminantia, family Cervidæ, we have obtained but one species—the Cervus Virginianus." (Oscar wrote these words on his board. He could easily do it, for his visitor did not seem to be paying the least attention to him.) "We have the Alces Americanus and the Cervus Tarandus, as well as the hollow-horned ruminants, of which there is but one species in this country, as you are no doubt aware, yet to procure. Of the Digitigrades, family Canidæ, we have but one—the red fox.
"We should be willing to give something handsome for a gray-cross, or black fox. Of the Plantigrades, we have two—Ursus Americanus and Procyon lotor. We should like a specimen of the Ursus horribilis and the Ursus maritimus, and also of the cinnamon bear, which seems to be gaining some notoriety for voracity and fierceness; but I don't suppose that a boy of your years would care to face animals of that description.
"We have been trying to engage an accomplished taxidermist, who is at the same time a successful hunter, to work for us for a term of years at a stated salary; but thus far we have not succeeded in our object, for the reason that those to whom we have applied demand more money than the committee, in whose hands the matter is placed, think they can afford to pay. We are quite willing to give a hundred dollars a month and expenses, provided the collector is willing to go where we want to send him; but more than that we could not promise, under the terms on which the money was given to us. Ah, here's a Digitigrade!" he exclaimed, when he discovered the fox, which was one of Oscar's first specimens. "Now, if you think you can afford to work for us for that amount of money, we shall be glad to employ you. I know that the committee will indorse any bargain I may make with you; but in order to make 'assurance doubly sure,' perhaps I had better consult with them before we come to any definite understanding."
Oscar had stood with his board in one hand and his pencil in the other, ready to note down as many of the visitor's hard words as he could catch; but while he listened, his hands gradually fell, until they rested by his side, and when the professor ceased speaking, he backed up against his work-bench and leaned heavily upon it.
The astounding offer of a hundred dollars a month and expenses almost knocked him over.