48 Life of a Fossil Hunter 



ions shot down and scalped by a band of marauding 

 Indians, and only the swiftness of his horse had 

 saved him from the same fate. Consequently, he 

 saw an Indian behind every bush; and, although I 

 had never been afraid before even when I learned 

 that a large party on the warpath had passed close 

 to my camp, now, worn and tired as I was, I became 

 infected with his fears. 



When I found that I could do nothing to get my- 

 self out of this mental condition and be of further 

 use to the Professor, I wrote to him, and was or- 

 dered home for rest, to meet him later in Omaha, 

 in company with Mr. Isaac. 



But before we return to civilization, will my read- 

 ers go with me on another expedition to these Kan- 

 sas chalk beds? "How fleet is a glance of the 

 mind ! " Instead of an arid, treeless plain, covered 

 with short grass, a great semi-tropical ocean lies 

 at our feet. Everywhere along the shores and 

 estuaries are great forests of magnolia, birch, sassa- 

 fras, and fig, while a vast expanse of blue water 

 stretches southward. 



" But," you ask, " what is that animal at full 

 length upon the water in that sheltered cove ? " 



Watch it a moment ! It raises a long conical head, 

 four feet in length and set firmly upon a neck of 

 seven strongly spined vertebrae. This powerful head 

 terminates in a long, bony rostrum, also conical in 



