"'Of course I do,' she said, getting up and putting both arms around her father's neck; 'but Dick—as—as you call him—is so helpless and timid.'
"My blissful smile froze on my lips.
"'Timid!' I repeated.
"She came back to the table, making me a mocking reverence.
"'Do you think I am to be laughed at with impunity?' she said.
"'What are your other plans, Dick?' asked the professor. 'Daisy, let him alone, you little tease!'
"'One is, to haul a lot of cast-iron boilers along the dunes,' I said. 'If these birds come when the carcass floats in, and if they seem disposed to trouble us, we could crawl into the boilers and be safe.'
"'Why, that is really brilliant!' cried Daisy.
"'Be quiet, my child. Dick, the plan is sound and sensible and perfectly practical. McPeek and Frisby shall go for a dozen loads of boilers to-morrow.'
"'It will spoil the beauty of the landscape,' said Daisy, with a taunting nod to me.