"'Do they ever attack human beings?' I asked.
"The professor looked startled.
"'Gracious!' he exclaimed, 'I never thought of that. And Daisy running about out-of-doors! Dear me! It takes a scientist to be an unnatural parent!'
"His alarm was half real, half assumed; but, all the same, he glanced gravely at us both, shaking his handsome head, absorbed in thought. Daisy herself looked a little doubtful. As for me, my sensations were distinctly queer.
"'It is true,' said the professor, frowning at the wall, 'that human remains have been found associated with the bones of the ekaf-bird—I don't know how intimately. It is a matter to be taken into most serious consideration.'
"'The problem can be solved,' said I, 'in several ways. One is, to keep Miss Holroyd in the house—'
"'I shall not stay in,' cried Daisy, indignantly.
"We all laughed, and her father assured her that she should not be abused.
"'Even if I did stay in,' she said, 'one of these birds might alight on Master Dick.'
"She looked saucily at me as she spoke, but turned crimson when her father observed, quietly, 'You don't seem to think of me, Daisy!'