98 THE SPRING OF THE YEAR 



" Would I get him some turtle eggs ? he called. 

 Yes, I would. And would I get them to Cambridge 

 within three hours from the time they were laid? Yes, 

 I would. And I did. And it was worth the doing. 

 But I did it only once. 



" When I promised Agassiz those eggs, I knew 

 where I was going to get them. I had got turtle eggs 

 there before at a particular patch of sandy shore 

 along a pond, a few miles distant from the acad- 

 emy. 



" Three hours was the limit. From the railroad 

 station to Boston was thirty-five miles ; from the 

 pond to the station was perhaps three or four miles; 

 from Boston to Cambridge we called about three 

 miles. Forty miles in round numbers ! We figured 

 it all out before he returned, and got the trip down 

 to two hours, record time : driving from the 

 pond to the station ; from the station by express train 

 to Boston ; from Boston by cab to Cambridge. This 

 left an easy hour for accidents and delays. 



" Cab and car and carriage we reckoned into our 

 time-table ; but what we did n't figure on was the 

 turtle." And he paused abruptly. 



" Young man," he went on, his shaggy brows 

 and spectacles hardly hiding the twinkle in the eyes 

 that were bent severely upon me, " young man, 

 when you go after turtle eggs, take into account the 

 turtle. No ! No ! that 's bad advice. Youth never 

 reckons on the turtle and youth seldom ought to. 



