Before I proceed any further, common decency requires me to reassure
my readers concerning my intentions, which, Heaven knows, are far from
flippant.

To separate fact from fancy has always been difficult for me, but now
that I have had the honor to be chosen secretary of the Zoological
Gardens in Bronx Park, I realize keenly that unless I give up writing
fiction nobody will believe what I write about science. Therefore it
is to a serious and unimaginative public that I shall hereafter
address myself; and I do it in the modest confidence that I shall
neither be distrusted nor doubted, although unfortunately I still
write in that irrational style which suggests covert frivolity, and
for which I am undergoing a course of treatment in English literature
at Columbia College. Now, having promised to avoid originality and
confine myself to facts, I shall tell what I have to tell concerning
the dingue, the mammoth, and--something else.

For some weeks it had been rumored that Professor Farrago, president
of the Bronx Park Zoological Society, would resign, to accept an
enormous salary as manager of Barnum & Bailey's circus. He was now
with the circus in London, and had promised to cable his decision
before the day was over.

I hoped he would decide to remain with us. I was his secretary and
particular favorite, and I viewed, without enthusiasm, the advent of a
new president, who might shake us all out of our congenial and
carefully excavated ruts. However, it was plain that the trustees of
the society expected the resignation of Professor Farrago, for they
had been in secret session all day, considering the names of possible
candidates to fill Professor Farrago's large, old-fashioned shoes.
These preparations worried me, for I could scarcely expect another
chief as kind and considerate as Professor Leonidas Farrago.