A WELL-KNOWN VOICE
In the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments is told the story of Ali Baba and
the Forty Thieves. In this, at the mention of the magic word “Sesame,”
the ponderous rocky portal of the treasure cave swung open or shut,
according to its previous position.
And now, as Ned, Bob, and Jerry stood outside the cabin door, through
which they had a glimpse of the well-remembered figure, and as together
they uttered the magic word “Professor Snodgrass,” the same thing
happened as happened to Ali Baba.
The door of the cabin was quickly shut, and not by the figure seated at
the table before the mass of papers.
For a few seconds the three lads remained transfixed with surprise.
They looked at one another, then glanced at the closed door, and then
peered into each others’ faces.
Jerry was the first to recover the use of his voice.
“Did you see that, fellows?”
“Did we see it?” echoed Ned. “I should say so!”
“What does it all mean?” asked Bob. “Why should our old friend,
Professor Snodgrass, treat us like that--shutting the door in our
faces?”
“He didn’t!” declared Jerry.
“He did!” asserted Bob. “I saw him!”
“You saw the door close,” went on Jerry. “But the professor didn’t shut
it. If you had been standing where I was, you could have observed that.
There was some one else in the room who acted for him.”
“That’s right!” chimed in Ned. “He didn’t even see us. He didn’t look
up once from his papers. It was the same old Professor Snodgrass--more
intent on finding out how many legs some new kind of ant has than on
his meals. Yes, the same old professor!”
“Are you sure about that?” asked Jerry.
“Sure of it?” reiterated Ned. “Why, of course! Aren’t you?”
“You called his name out, just as we did, and then the door went shut,”
declared Bob. “You spoke his name.”
“Yes; and at the time I really thought it was the professor,” admitted
Jerry. “But when I think of what took place I begin to have my doubts.”
“Professor Snodgrass never acted that way before, that’s sure,” and Ned
seemed siding with Jerry Hopkins. “Every other time he’s seen us he’s
been tickled to death. This time----”
“He didn’t see us this time--that’s all there is to it,” declared
Jerry. “Professor Snodgrass or not, whoever is in that room never
looked up to see us, though he--whoever he is--may have heard us call
out the name.”
“If it isn’t the professor who is it?” demanded Bob.
“Who’s the fellow I had the row with in the restaurant?” Jerry
countered.
“Oh! _Le cochon!_” Bob exclaimed. “That’s so! He does look a lot like
our friend. But not from the front, Jerry Hopkins! Not from the front!”
he added quickly, as he recalled that circumstance, and the fact that
this time they had had a full-face view of the man now sitting behind
the closed cabin door. “The pepper-pot looks like the professor from
the back view, but not from the front. We proved that several times.”
“And besides,” went on Ned, “this isn’t the mysterious cabin, either.
There are no marines on guard here.”
“I grant you that,” said Jerry, and he was smiling at his two chums in
a manner that, had they not been so excited, would have roused their
curiosity.
“And this isn’t the same cabin, either!” reiterated Ned. “The one where
the marines are on guard, and where we think the pepper-pot is held a
prisoner, is on the deck below.”
“Are you sure of that?” asked Jerry, and the manner of his asking made
both Ned and Bob look more closely at the corridor in which they were
then standing. Next they glanced at the closed door, noting the number,
and with one accord they exclaimed:
“It’s the same!”
“That’s what I thought you’d say,” remarked Jerry, with a little nod of
satisfaction. “But we might as well hike along. No use standing here
talking over the mystery. Besides, the professor may not like it.”
“I thought you said it wasn’t the professor,” said Ned.
“No, I only said I had my doubts,” corrected Jerry. “I don’t really
know what to think.”
“As you say, it’s a mystery,” conceded Bob. “But can’t we get to the
bottom of it? Say, all sorts of things are happening on our homeward
trip. Here we are delayed because of some mysterious explosion on
board, there’s a mysterious prisoner in a mysterious cabin guarded by
marines, and now we think we see in the same cabin the real professor.
Say, it’s beyond me all right!”
“Yes, it’s queer,” admitted Jerry. “Let’s go off by ourselves and talk
it over.”
“Good idea,” agreed Ned. “I guess we’ll have enough excitement doing
that not to need other recreation.”
In as secluded a spot as the three Motor Boys could find on the crowded
troopship, they talked over the incidents of the trip thus far.
“Then you are sure the cabin where we saw the professor--or at least
the cabin where the door was shut so soon after we uttered his
name--you’re sure that’s the same cabin where the marines were on
guard, are you, Jerry?” asked Ned.
“Positive,” was the tall lad’s reply.
“But how do you account for the change?” asked Bob. “Why are the guards
withdrawn, and why is it that this pepper-pot--if it is he in the
cabin--looks so much more like Professor Snodgrass from the front than
he did at first?”
“The only way I can account for that,” replied Jerry, “is that it
really is Professor Snodgrass this time.”
“_This_ time!” echoed Ned. “Do you mean to say the professor is on
board here?”
“He might be,” the tall lad admitted. “You remember we met only the
other day a fellow we knew well. He’d been on board since the start of
this unfortunate trip, and yet we didn’t know it until we ran plumb
into him. It may be the same with the professor.”
“But he’d be sure to look us up if he were here,” declared Bob. “He
always does. He’s very friendly, and he likes to be with us. He’d be
sure to speak to us if he were on board.”
“Yes, if he knew we were here,” admitted Jerry. “But he may not. If it
was he in the cabin, where the door was just closed, you can make up
your mind he never saw us.”
“No, I don’t believe he did,” assented Bob. “But if that is the same
cabin where pepper-pot was guarded, and he’s gone now, and the real
Professor Snodgrass is in his place, how do you account for it?”
“I don’t account for it,” answered Jerry, with a smile. “All I am sure
of is that this is the same cabin where the marines were. You can be as
sure of that as I am--in fact, I guess you are sure, aren’t you?”
Ned and Bob nodded in affirmation.
“Then,” went on the tall lad, “all that I am sure of, next, is that
the guards are gone. And you must admit that it is possible for both
Professor Snodgrass and the man we call _le cochon_ to be in that cabin
at the same time, isn’t it?”
“Yes, of course it is,” assented Ned. “But from the way that pepper-pot
talked of our friend I shouldn’t think they’d want to be in the same
cabin.”
“Maybe they don’t want to be, but circumstances may force them to,”
suggested Jerry, with a laugh. “Boys,” he went on, “I believe there’s
something queer going on here aboard the _Sherman_. We’ve done our part
in telling what we know. Now it’s up to our superior officers.”
Ned and Bob were silent for a moment. Then the stout lad broke the
silence by saying:
“Well, it certainly is a mystery! I only wish we could have a talk with
Professor Snodgrass--provided he’s here--and see what he has to say.”
“I wish the same thing myself,” admitted Jerry. “And now perhaps we’d
better go on with our original plan, and see if we can do something to
organize a little fun to kill this deadly monotony of waiting for help.”
“Yes, let’s do that,” agreed Ned.
As they started once more on their errand a commotion was heard on the
deck above. The shuffling of many feet told of soldiers rushing to and
fro, while there were shouts that seemed to be those of alarm.
“Hello! Something else doing!” cried Ned, as he hurried toward a
companionway that led to the upper decks.
The three reached the deck together, and as they emerged into the open
they were immediately enveloped in swirling clouds of white vapor.
“Smoke!” cried Bob. “The ship is on fire!”
“Nonsense!” exclaimed Jerry. “It’s a heavy fog! Just what is to
be expected when there’s a dead calm at this time of year. We’re
fog-bound, as well as disabled.”
“But why should a mere fog cause such a commotion?” asked Ned.
Before Jerry could answer the three boys were startled by hearing
through the dim, misty whiteness a well-known voice saying:
“Don’t disturb me now, and please don’t come too close! This is the
best chance I’ve had for a long while to catch some of the mist-flies.
Please don’t interrupt me, gentlemen!”