TURTLE EGGS FOR AGASSIZ 105 



perhaps those moments came later that day ; but those 

 certainly were among the slowest, most dreadfully 

 mixed of moments that I ever experienced. They 

 were hours long. There she was, her shell just show- 

 ing, like some old hulk in the sand alongshore. And 

 how long would she stay there ? and how should I 

 know if she had laid an egg? 



" I could still wait. And so I waited, when, over 

 the freshly awakened fields, floated four mellow 

 strokes from the distant town clock. 



" Four o'clock ! Why there was no train until 

 seven ! No train for three hours ! The eggs would 

 spoil ! Then with a rush it came over me that this 

 was Sunday morning, and there was no regular seven 

 o'clock train, none till after nine. 



" I think I should have fainted had not the turtle 

 just then begun crawling off. I was weak and dizzy; 

 but there, there in the sand, were the eggs ! and 

 Agassiz ! and the great book ! Why, I cleared the 

 fence and the forty miles that lay between me 

 and Cambridge at a single jump ! He should have 

 them, trains or no. Those eggs should go to Agas- 

 siz by seven o'clock, if I had to gallop every mile 

 of the way. Forty miles ! Any horse could cover it 

 in three hours, if he had to ; and, upsetting the 

 astonished turtle, I scooped out her long white eggs. 



" On a bed of sand in the bottom of the pail I 

 laid them, with what care my trembling fingers al- 

 lowed ; filled in between them with more sand ; so 



