"A duck library. I thought so. But did you ever own a library of
ducks? There's a difference. A man doesn't have to know anything
to write a book--I've done it myself. Practical experience is the
thing."

"Did you keep cows for them?"

Pope stared at his inquisitor for a moment; then he explained with
patient politeness: "These were not carnivorous ducks. They ate
bugs and fish and corn."

"Corn!" Adoree was shocked, incredulous; her eyes glittered with
the fire of fanaticism; she no longer saw in this man an enemy, a
vile creature branded with the mark of the beast, but a fellow-
enthusiast--a surprisingly ignorant one, to be sure, but an
enthusiast for all that, and therefore bound to her by unbreakable
bonds. Live steam would have been more easily confined than the
vast fund of technical knowledge with which she was crammed.

"You should have fed soft food and sour milk," she began.
"Buttermilk would have been all right, and in that way your cows
would have been self-supporting. You need a good pasture with a
duck-farm. When I was in Germany I saw the most wonderful
incubator--a child could operate it. I'd like to show you some
brooder-house plans I had drawn over there. You see, you made your
first mistake in choosing fresh-water. If I had a good location
near salt-water--not too near--and proper surroundings, I'd show
you something about ducks. I'd start with a thousand--that's
plenty--then kill for the market as they quit laying, and mix the