Ned, Bob and Jerry on the Firing Line Part 23

So unexpected was the news given by the captured Boxwood Hall janitor that for a moment or two Ned and Bob could scarcely believe it. That the information, so much desired and so ardently sought after, should come to them by accident, while, doubtless, Professor Snodgra.s.s was using every energy to that end, seemed scarcely believable. Yet there could be no doubt of it. Still Ned was a bit cautious, and restrained his stout chum from rushing to the hospital to tell Jerry.

"We don't want any mistake in this," remarked Ned. "Are you sure, Nick, that this is the same Professor Petersen whom we mean, the same one Professor Snodgra.s.s means?"

"I don't see how there can be any mistake," declared the former janitor. "I often heard Professor Petersen speak of Professor Snodgra.s.s, and I know him well enough. I could tell him in the dark."

"Yes, I guess that's right," a.s.sented Ned.

"But there may be two Professor Petersens--the name is not uncommon in Germany, at any rate."

"There is no mistake," declared Schmouder. "I admit there may be several Professor Petersens, but hardly two who would have nieces named Dorothy Gibbs and Gladys Petersen."

"That seems to clinch it," declared Bob.

"Yes, I guess so," agreed his chum. "But what else can you tell us about them, Nick, and where are the girls now?"

The German prisoner shrugged his shoulders.

"As for where they are now, I do not know," he answered. "My father and mother live in a little town not far from Metz. It was there Professor Petersen came sometimes to study and write his books, when he was not in his own country or in your country, lecturing or visiting Professor Snodgra.s.s.

"Just before this terrible war, which I wish with all my heart I had never seen, Professor Petersen came to this little town, bringing for the first time his two nieces. I happened to be there on a visit--I came to see my parents, and now I wish I hadn't.

"No, I will not say that!" quickly exclaimed the man. "I am glad I saw them; but I wish I had sent for them to come to the United States to see me. It would have been safer for them and me, for we shall lose this war--I can see that."

"You said it!" declared Bob, with energy.

"Tell us all you can," urged Ned. "We have a great interest in finding these girls."

"Well, I am sorry I cannot tell you more," replied Schmouder. "As I said, I came back just before the war broke out, was caught and sent to the army. I saw Professor Petersen in my home town then with the two young ladies. There was some story about his having been reconciled to them after a long estrangement, but I did not pay much attention to that.

"All I know is that I saw the young ladies and knew they were the nieces of the professor. They had been traveling in France and Germany, it was said. Then the professor left just before war was declared. He suspected it was coming, and said he had certain investigations he wished to make before the fighting started. He left the two young ladies in charge of my father and mother, telling them he would be back as soon as he could, and that, thereafter, he would look after them."

"What happened next?" asked Bob.

"The war," answered Schmouder succinctly. "That spoiled everything. I had to go away and leave my parents. What has become of them I do not know."

"Haven't you heard from them?" asked Ned.

"Not lately, no. Soon after I was forced to join the army I had a letter, in which they told me they were going farther into Germany to be safer."

"And what about the two girls and Professor Petersen?" Bob queried.

"What happened to Professor Petersen I cannot tell you," was the answer. "As for his two nieces, my father wrote that they had gone on some scientific expedition shortly after the professor left them, and were not expected back for a month."

"Were they scientists too?" asked Ned.

"I believe so," answered the former janitor. "They loved study, as did their uncle. At any rate they, too, went into the interior of Germany just before the war broke out, and what has happened to them I do not know any more than I know what happened to Professor Petersen."

"We can tell you what happened to him," said Ned. "He died in America, and left a lot of money."

"So!" exclaimed Schmouder. "Well, it will do no one any good these terrible days."

"Maybe it will, and perhaps it won't," replied Bob. "At any rate, he left half his fortune to Professor Snodgra.s.s on condition that our friend find the two nieces and give them the other half of the fortune."

"Ach! Well, I shall be glad if the young ladies get something," said Schmouder.

"Yes, but the trouble is they won't get it if they can't be found,"

said Ned. "And Professor Snodgra.s.s won't get anything, either. Now if you could only tell us where these two girls are to be found, why----"

"That I could not do--no one could in these days!" declared the prisoner earnestly. "I will help you all I can. I am an American at heart, and I hope you will believe me when I say that every gun I fired sent its bullets only into the ground. I could not shoot at my former friends. Germany is no longer a friend to me!"

"Nor to any one else," declared Bob. "Gee! but it's tough to be so near the solution and then to fail."

"Don't give up yet," advised Ned. "We can tell Professor Snodgra.s.s what we have learned, and maybe he can find a way to get in communication with the young ladies. It's a pity Professor Petersen didn't give them half his fortune when he was alive, and save all this bother."

"Yes, it would have been a good idea!" scoffed his chum. "The girls and Professor Snodgra.s.s would have been better off. But, as a rule, people don't do that sort of thing. I haven't noticed your father--nor mine--giving away half of his possessions. However, the money may be lost entirely now. I don't see how it can be paid over, inherited or whatever the term is anyhow, in these days. Maybe the war has wiped out Professor Petersen's fortune."

"I hardly think that," said the former janitor. "He was not a German, and his wealth was not in that country. He was a very careful man, and if he left any money to any one you may be sure it is waiting for them, wherever they are."

"That's the point!" exclaimed Bob. "The money may be all right, but we can't find those for whom it is intended. And if Professor Snodgra.s.s can't locate the girls, all the fortune goes to a humane society."

"Ach! So?" exclaimed Nicholas Schmouder. "Well, it is better that than Germany should get it. Please tell your friends that I did never fire my gun at them--always into the ground," he said wistfully, as the boys turned away from the prisoners' wire cage.

"We'll do the best we can for you," they said. But there was little they could do to make life any easier for their old friend, who, through no fault of his own, was in a bad predicament.

When next they had a chance to visit Jerry the two chums told him all they had heard, and the wounded lad suggested that they should write to Professor Snodgra.s.s at once, urging him to come on and have a talk with Schmouder. This Ned and Bob did, though there was no certainty that their letter would reach the scientist, or that he would be able to obey the instructions in it. They had his last address, but he was, at best, uncertain in his movements, and now, with the great forward movement of the American armies beginning, it was hard for any one to get to the front.

"But we've found out something, anyhow," declared Ned. "The girls are somewhere in Germany, if they are still alive, and it may be possible for Professor Snodgra.s.s to give them half the money and keep the other half for his own necessities."

"Yes, it may, and it may not. I hope it will, though."

Jerry, thanks to the nature of his wounds and to his healthy const.i.tution, made a remarkably quick recovery, and though he was not ready to go back to the front-line trenches when his chums had to report for duty, it was probable that after their next rest period he would join them.

It was hard for Ned and Bob to say good-bye to their chum. They might never meet again, and they knew it. But it was the fortune of war, and had to be borne.

Fate, however, was kind to them, and Ned and Bob were sent to a quiet sector. After some slight skirmishes, which, however, were hard enough on those engaged, they were again sent to the rear to recuperate.

There they found Jerry chafing against being kept out of the fighting.

"Feel all right?" asked Ned.

"Sure! Never better. I want to get at the Huns again."

"Didn't hear from Professor Snodgra.s.s, did you?" inquired Bob.

"No. But I wrote to him again. Schmouder has been sent back to the rear to work with other prisoners, but I have his camp location so the professor can interview him if he thinks it needful. And say, a rather queer thing happened while you were away."

"What?" asked Ned.

"Well, Noddy Nixon came to see me."