"Now, Lane, measure him," said the captain.
The body was laid out at full length in the bottom of the boat; and the carpenter took his length on a boathook, which he notched to indicate the height of the animal. He was directed to take several other measurements; in fact, Louis kept him at work for over an hour, with another hand to assist him in spreading out the limbs. The captain became quite impatient; for he was less a scientist than the young millionaire, though he had a taste for natural history.
"Have you finished, Louis?" asked Scott as the former returned to the yacht.
"All done; but Lane must sum up the results," replied Louis.
"What good will all those measurements do you?" demanded the captain rather contemptuously.
"They will not put any money in my pocket, but I want to know the size of the game I have killed," answered Louis, somewhat nettled by the manner of Scott. "When a man has caught a fish he wants to know what his prize weighs."
"All right; but I want to get a little farther into the woods here, and I can get around the bushes ahead of her," replied the captain, who had been studying up a course by which he could go a considerable distance farther inland.
He backed the boat, and then went ahead very slowly, with Clingman feeling of the bottom with the boathook. It was novel sailing through the forest in a steam-launch, and all hands enjoyed it. The screw-pines were rather scattered, and the forest of large trees was quite open. After the boat had gone about half a mile, as the captain judged, Clingman made a report.
"By the mark, one," said he, as the depth is given with the lead, in fathoms.
"Six feet; we are shoaling," added Captain Scott. "Try it again."