CHAPTER XI CORA MAKES A DISCOVERY
The boys, followed by Mr. Morley, retraced their steps to the cabin andtold the good news.
"And now," said Cora, "I suppose we must go. It was awfully good of you,Mr. Morley, to take us shipwrecked travelers in and treat us so nicely."
The others echoed this sentiment, but Mr. Morley put in a vehementdisclaimer.
"It's nothing compared to what you did for me the other day," hedeclared. "And I can't tell you how much good it has done me to have youyoung people here. It's a long time since I've had youth in my home. Butthat's my own fault. I drove it----"
He brought himself up with a sharp turn.
"Perhaps you'd like to take a look at my specimens before you go," heremarked tentatively.
"We'd dearly love to," replied Cora.
Mr. Morley led the way into the specimen room.
"Just now I'm making a collection of vampires," he remarked.
"No accounting for tastes," whispered Walter to Paul, in a voice too lowto be heard by their host.
"Do you keep them in a cage?" asked Jack.
Mr. Morley looked up in surprise.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Why," replied Jack, "you spoke of vampires, and I thought you meantvampire bats. They're the only kind of vampires I know anything about."
"I was referring to the plant this leaf was taken from," smiled theirhost, as he held it up for them to see.
It was a long, rounded leaf that seemed to be covered with tiny hairs, onwhich glistened something that resembled honey and gave forth a fragrantodor. On looking more closely they saw what appeared to be fragments ofsmall insects.
"We call it the sun-dew," explained Mr. Morley. "It's common enough, andyou've seen it in the fields many a time. But instead of living onelements drawn from the soil, it feeds on flies and other insects. Theyare attracted by the honey that it spreads out temptingly to bring themwithin its reach. But as soon as they light on it, the leaf tightensaround them and crushes them to death. Then it eats them at leisure.That's why it's called a 'vampire.'"
"But," objected Cora, "any one would think from that that the plant hadintelligence and knew just what it was doing, just as an animal does whenit hunts for prey."
"Exactly," agreed Mr. Morley. "Who are we to say that plants don't haveintelligence? What proof is there in nature that they don't suffer andenjoy, feel and plan, as men and animals do, only on a lower plane? Wehumans are too conceited. We assume that we possess intelligence almostexclusively. We grant some to animals, though we slur even that bycalling it only instinct. But we've been inclined to deny it altogetherto plants.
"Now I don't agree with this at all. And there are lots more of the newerschool of naturalists who feel just as I do about it. Wherever there islife there is intelligence. Plants can be cunning and patient and crueland deceitful. If they can't get enough of one kind of food, they huntfor another. When men and animals do these things or show thesequalities, we admit that it is the result of thought. What is it, then,that makes a plant do precisely similar things with similar ends in view?
"But there," he interrupted himself with a smile, "one might almost thinkthat I was in my lecture room, talking to a class! It's a hobby of mine,and I forget sometimes that others may not be so interested in it as Iam."
"But we _are_ interested, keenly interested," protested Cora.
"I never thought of plants in that way before," declared Bess.
"It's opened up an entirely new way of looking at things," said Paul.
"Are there many kinds of vampire plants?" asked Belle.
"Lots of them," replied Mr. Morley. "And they use all kinds ofdevices--hooks, claws, poison, honey, snares and shocks."
"Desperate characters," whispered Walter to Jack.
"Worse than gunmen," murmured Jack.
"There, for instance," continued their host, "is the 'devil's snare' thatis found in South America. It has long, snaky tentacles that sweep theground for many yards in every direction, for all the world like the longsuckers of the devil-fish. It gobbles up anything that comes within itsreach, insects, mice and larger animals. Once it gets its deadly grip ona victim, it keeps on tightening and tightening until it chokes the lifeout of it. It has been known to grasp and kill a good-sized dog."
"The horrid thing!" exclaimed Bess with a little shudder.
"The S. P. C. A. ought to get after it," laughed Walter.
"There are plants, too," continued their mentor, "that show intelligenceby the way they adapt themselves to changed conditions. The bladderwort,for example, used to live on insects. Perhaps it got a hint somewherethat it could do better on water than on land. At any rate, it became awater plant. It lies just under the surface and imitates the wide-openmouth of a mother fish. The little minnows swim into it to avoid theirenemies and as soon as they're well inside, the mouth closes and theplant regales itself with a fish dinner.
"Then there are the cannibal plants. There are hundreds of trees thathave the life juices sucked from them by the parasitic plants that twinearound them until they give up the ghost."
"Just as the trusts do to the common people," observed Jack.
"Well," said Cora, drawing a long breath, "I've always known that naturewas cruel, but I've never connected that idea with plants."
"Cruel everywhere," assented Mr. Morley, "from man, creation's crown, toplants, creation's base."
They looked with a new interest and a heightened respect at the otherspecimens he showed, and the time passed so quickly that they werestartled, on glancing out of doors, to see how rapidly dusk was comingon.
"When I get to mooning along on my pet theories, I never know when tostop," said Mr. Morley apologetically.
"It's been a real treat to listen to you, Mr. Morley," said Cora with herwinning smile.
"Truth is not only stranger but more interesting than fiction," smiledBelle.
They separated with cordial good wishes and a hearty invitation to Mr.Morley to visit them at Camp Kill Kare. He stood at the cabin door,watching them as they hurried down to their boat.
"This is the end of a perfect day," sang Bess gaily, as they stepped onboard the _Water Sprite_, which the boys had brought around to the littledock at which Mr. Morley's rowboat was tied.
"It certainly has been a crowded one," said Belle.
"Isn't Mr. Morley an unusual man?" asked Cora. "I'm more and moreconvinced that there's a mystery about him."
"He's a fine chap," said Jack, "but I didn't notice anything especiallymysterious about him."
"That's because you're a man," said Cora.
"I can't help belonging to that despised sex, can I?" inquired Jack in aninjured tone.
"I suppose it's your misfortune rather than your fault," dimpled Bess.
"What do you suppose he meant when he said 'I drove it,' and then stoppedso suddenly?" asked Belle thoughtfully.
"Probably thinking of his car when he drove it into a tree," remarkedJack flippantly.
If he had not been hardened, he would have succumbed before theexasperated glare of three pairs of girlish eyes.
"Better get in out of the wet, Jack," counseled Paul.
"Come over here and I'll protect you with my life," adjured Walter.
"Don't pay any attention to those idiots, girls," advised Cora. "We'llwait until we get by ourselves and can talk sense without beinginterrupted."
The _Water Sprite_, as though repenting of its lapses that afternoon, wasnow on its good behavior, and she kept "dry as a bone" on the shortpassage from the island.
They found Mrs. King a little worried at their late coming, and she threwup her hands at the story of their narrow escape from sinking.
"You've had a lively brood wished on you, Aunt Betty," laughed Cora, asshe threw her arm affectionately around her aunt's waist.
"I can see that already," was the reply. "My only comfort is that yougirls seem to bear a charmed life."
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"Call it 'charming,'" said Walter gallantly, "and we boys will agree withyou."
They had some music after dinner, but as all were tired from theirstrenuous day they went to their rooms early.
"Girls," exclaimed Cora, as soon as they were alone, "I've found out whomthat gypsy girl resembles! It's Mr. Morley!"