"Hercules!" he cried, "Hercules! Ah! see what will gain your pardon!
Cousin Weldon! Dick! a hexapode, unique in its species, and of African
origin! This, at least, they will not dispute with me, and it shall
quit me only with my life!"
"It is, then, very precious?" asked Mrs. Weldon.
"Precious!" cried Cousin Benedict. "An insect which is neither a
coleopter, nor a neuropteran, nor a hymenopter; which does not belong
to any of the ten orders recognized by savants, and which they will be
rather tempted to rank in the second section of the arachnides. A
sort of spider, which would be a spider if it had eight legs, and is,
however, a hexapode, because it has but six. Ah! my friends, Heaven
owed me this joy; and at length I shall give my name to a scientific
discovery! That insect shall be the 'Hexapodes Benedictus.'"
The enthusiastic savant was so happy--he forgot so many miseries past
and to come in riding his favorite hobby--that neither Mrs. Weldon nor
Dick Sand grudged him his felicitations.
All this time the perogue moved on the dark waters of the river. The
silence of night was only disturbed by the clattering scales of the
crocodiles, or the snorting of the hippopotami that sported on the
banks.
Then, through the sprigs of the thatch, the moon appeared behind the
tops of the trees, throwing its soft light to the interior of the
boat.
Pages:
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482