THE PROFESSOR IS MISSING
“What’s the matter?” cried Jerry.
“Something is wrong!” exclaimed Ned.
“Are they hurt?” asked Bob.
The two figures in the station doorway--Mr. Brill and the agent--were
struggling to arise. Jim Nestor, perhaps with a half-formed notion that
somebody was trying to rob his friend, made a motion toward his hip
pocket, and then thought better of it.
The large lady, casting aside her shawl, made a rush for the two on the
floor. Grasping Mr. Hitter by his coattails, she lifted him to his feet
with ease--for he was not a large man. Then she assisted Mr. Brill to
arise.
“Are you hurt, Harvey?” she cried. “Oh, say you’re not hurt! I couldn’t
bear to hear that, and me just finding you! Oh, Harvey, have you lost
any money? Are you hurt?”
Mr. Brill pulled himself away. He eyed Mr. Hitter for a moment as
though he thought the agent might be responsible, and then he turned
his gaze on the large woman.
“No, I’m not hurt,” he said. “I--I’m all right. When is our train due?”
he asked of the boys.
“Oh, Harvey, you’re not going away again--after I have just found you;
are you?” exclaimed the woman. “Aren’t you coming to live with your
dear aunt, and the children and your uncle? Your uncle hasn’t any work
now, and I know he’ll be glad to see you.”
“I expect he will,” said Mr. Brill, gloomily; “only he isn’t going to
see me. If that train doesn’t come soon, I’m going to walk!” he added,
desperately.
“There’s the whistle!” exclaimed Ned.
“But what’s it all about?” asked Jerry.
“Oh, Harvey, don’t leave me!” pleaded the big woman, again making a
rush for him.
“Keep her back--somebody!” cried Mr. Brill. “Don’t let her get hold of
me. Hurry out to the train.”
Once more he made a rush for the door.
“Look here!” cried Mr. Hitter. “You’re the fellow who found the gold on
the track, and nearly had the railroad torn up in consequence. Are you
going to do it again? Are you going to look for more gold?”
“I am not!” fairly yelled Mr. Brill. “Let me get aboard the train!”
Once more the whistle shrilly sounded.
“Come on!” cried the Westerner, making a break for the door, and
pushing Mr. Hitter aside.
“Stop! Wait for me, Harvey!” cried the large woman. “I want you to come
with me. We need you--the children need you. Did you bring any gold
with you from the West? Oh! I have had such a time finding you.”
“Come on!” cried Mr. Brill. “If I don’t get away now I never will!”
The train pulled into the station, and the Westerner fairly threw
himself aboard. Mr. Hitter rushed off to look after some baggage, and
Jim Nestor and the boys followed their excited friend.
“What’s it all about?” asked Bob, much puzzled.
“Give it up,” replied Jerry. “Maybe that’s one of the poor relations he
was telling about, who want him to support them. He’ll tell us in the
train, I guess. Come on, Professor!”
“Wait! Wait!” cried the stout lady; but with a wave of his hand Mr.
Brill disappeared into the smoker.
The motor boys climbed up the steps of the coach. Professor Snodgrass,
making a grab for a rare bug he saw at the last moment, followed. The
big woman attempted to board the train, but it was too late, and as it
pulled out of the station she was last seen running after the cars,
while, in the smoker, Mr. Brill was heard to say with much fervor:
“Oh what a lucky escape!”
“What was it all about?” asked Jerry, when they were all together in
the parlor car where they had seats, Mr. Brill having moved forward.
“Was she one of your relations?”
“She was,” answered the miner, “and one of the worst. She called
herself my aunt, but she was more like a forty-second cousin. For years
I almost supported her and her family. Her husband won’t work--he
thinks he’s got heart disease. I gave her what I could spare, and more
too, just as I did a whole lot of others who thought because I was a
gold miner, that I was rich. But I wasn’t.
“How she found out I was in the East I don’t know, but some of the poor
relations out West must have sent word that I had come on. Then she
traced me--though I don’t know how--and I suppose she came for money.
But I got away--thank goodness! I got away. If she had found me earlier
she’d have made life miserable for me. I had--well, you know what,” he
added, in a whisper, referring to the sixty nuggets of gold. “It had
to be kept quiet, and that’s why I didn’t want to get the sheriff and
a posse to recover my stuff. Word would have gotten out that I had it
and then--well, I wouldn’t have had it, that’s all.”
“I guess you’re safe now,” remarked Ned, with a smile, as he recalled
the scene of excitement in the depot.
“But she was very determined,” added Bob.
“She was something like you, Chunky--in build,” spoke Jerry, dryly.
“Well, we’re off, anyhow.”
The train sped through familiar scenery and the boys and their friends
gave themselves up to the delights of it. Mr. Snodgrass busied himself
making notes of the specimens he had captured.
A few seats up from where our friends sat, was a man with a very black
moustache, very “loud” clothing, and a watch chain that looked strong
enough to restrain a bulldog. He had cast curious glances at the party
as they boarded the train, and he looked particularly at Mr. Nestor and
Mr. Brill. Presently he sauntered in their direction, and, pulling out
a cigar case, said:
“I guess I’m right in sizing you folks up for a party of prospectors
and miners; am I not?”
For a moment there was silence, and then Jerry asked:
“What makes you think so?” for the lad feared they had by accident
mentioned the hidden gold.
“Oh, these gentlemen look like grub-stakers who have struck it rich,”
and he indicated the two Westerners. “Will you come back and have a
smoke with me?” he invited.
Jim Nestor looked at Jerry, who shook his head slightly.
“I guess we don’t care to smoke, stranger,” said the mine superintendent.
“And, as for sizing us up as prospectors who have struck it rich, you’ve
got another guess coming. We’re out with Professor Uriah Snodgrass in a
search for luminous snakes.”
“Snakes! Huh!” exclaimed the man, who looked like a gambler or “sport.”
“Exactly!” exclaimed the professor, hearing his favorite topic
mentioned. “Snakes of light--_illustris serpensus_--Do you happen to
know anything of them, sir?”
“Who, me? I should say not!” and the man, evidently much disappointed,
moved away.
“He got his all right!” chuckled Ned.
“Yes; evidently he thought to scrape an acquaintance and get us to
talk,” said Jerry.
“But he had no use for bug-hunters!” chuckled Mr. Brill. “That’s a good
stunt, boys; to pretend to be scientists. We’ll keep it up. We can’t be
too careful.”
They traveled all that day and night, little of incident occurring. The
black-moustached man did not trouble them further. The next day found
them well on their way to the border.
The car they were traveling in was a comfortable one, and they would
not have to change for some time. There was a dining coach attached to
the train, and Bob rejoiced in looking over the bill of fare when he
had nothing else to do.
It was on the second day out, and toward evening when they were just
beginning to think about supper that Jerry, who had been walking
through the train to “stretch his legs,” came back to his friends.
“Have any of you seen the professor?” he asked, and his voice was a bit
troubled.
“The professor?” asked Ned. “Why, he was here a while ago, making notes
to beat the band.”
“So I saw,” spoke Jerry. “Then I noticed him get up to go for a drink
of water. He didn’t come back, and I went looking for him. He isn’t on
the train, as far as I can find, and we haven’t made any stops since.”
“Could he have fallen off?” asked Bob, uneasily.
“By Jove!” cried Ned. “It would be just like him. He may have gone on
the platform, seen a rare bug, and in reaching for it lost his balance
and fallen off. I wonder----”
But Ned did not continue. At that instant the train came to a sudden
stop with a grinding of brakes--such a sudden stop that nearly everyone
in the car was thrown from his seat.
“An accident!” yelled Bob.
“We’re going to smash!” cried Ned.
“Something has happened to the professor!” came from Jerry.
“Maybe it’s a hold-up!” ejaculated Jim Nestor, and this time he drew
from his hip pocket something shining. Harvey Brill followed his
example.