Ned, Bob and Jerry on the Firing Line Part 25

"Yes," resumed the tall lad. "I was saying he asked a mighty queer question of the surgeon and I have my own opinion----"

At that moment a smiling Red Cross nurse appeared and said:

"There's a visitor asking to see you, Mr. Hopkins."

"A visitor for me!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Yes, do you wish to see any one?"

"Man or young lady?" asked Ned, with a mischievous smile at his chum.

"Oh, a dear, little, bald-headed man, who peers at you in such a funny way through his big gla.s.ses and----"

"Show him in!" cried Ned, Bob and Jerry in one voice.

CHAPTER XXII

AN UNEXPECTED CAPTURE

The smiling Red Cross nurse had no need to mention the name of the visitor. The boys knew him for Professor Snodgra.s.s after that description, which could fit no one else. And the little scientist it proved to be a moment later.

"Ah, here you are, boys!" he murmured, as though he had just parted from them half an hour before, and under ordinary circ.u.mstances, instead of the great war being in the background. "I am glad to see you. I want----"

He made a sudden motion toward the smiling, Red Cross nurse, and instinctively she stepped back, with something of a look of alarm on her face.

"One moment--please!" exclaimed the professor. "There is a most beautiful and rare b.u.t.terfly on your ap.r.o.n. I just want it for my collection," and, a moment later, he had safe in one of his wire boxes the fluttering _Papilio_.

"Oh, how beautiful!" murmured the nurse. "What are you going to do with the poor thing?"

"Preserve it so that others may gaze on its beauty," answered the professor with a bow. "It will also aid me in my studies. This particular b.u.t.terfly is one I have long sought, because of the peculiar markings. It is most lucky that I came here to-day."

"Well, it might have been unlucky if you had happened to be hit by one of the German air bombs," said Jerry. "But we're glad to see you. We have good news for you about those two girls."

"Yes, so I understand from your letters. So that janitor has seen them. Well, now I must follow them up and give them their share of the fortune. I came on as soon as I could after hearing from you boys. I thank you for having my interests at heart. Now where can I see this Nick Schmouder and have a talk with him?"

The camp where the German prisoners were detained was not many miles back of the hospital where Jerry had recovered from his wounds, and, as he would be able to travel the next day, and as Bob and Ned could get furloughs, it was decided that the four should make up a party and seek out the former janitor, so that the professor might hear, at first hand, all there was to be said.

These arrangements having been made, transportation provided and the necessary permissions having been secured, the professor and the three Motor Boys, several hours later, sat down to have a long chat and exchange experiences. Professor Snodgra.s.s told how he was progressing with his work of studying the effects of battle noises on insects, and the boys related their stories of fighting and battles.

"And we thought old Jerry was gone when we saw him go down outside the dugout where we captured Schmouder," finished Ned, as a climax to his story.

"I thought so myself," admitted the tall lad. "But I'm as well as ever, and next week I'll be fighting again. What are your plans, Professor?"

"I must try to find those two young ladies. The military authorities have been very good to me. They have said I can go anywhere I like to study the insects, provided I do nothing that would betray any army secrets. And I have been very careful."

That is he was careful not to disobey his instructions, but that he was anything but careful of himself the boys learned later. They heard stories of how he went up to the very front lines of the fighting, so he might be nearer the big guns, and he took with him cages of insects, noting the effect of the concussions of the great cannons on their nervous systems.

Professor Snodgra.s.s would have laughed had you called him a brave man, but he dared as much for his beloved science as others did for their country's honor. And, moreover, only the age limit kept the professor out of the army.

The journey to the prison camp where Nick Schmouder was held took place the next day, and was accomplished without incident worthy of note.

But if Professor Snodgra.s.s hoped to obtain any more information from the former janitor than the boys had about the two missing girls, he was disappointed. For Nick Schmouder could only repeat what he had already told. He was glad to see Professor Snodgra.s.s, and it was quite pathetic to hear the man tell his story about having always fired his gun into the ground to avoid hurting any of those he called his friends.

"I didn't believe there were any good Germans in Germany any more,"

said Jerry, "but I guess Nick is pretty near one."

So they listened to his stories, and Professor Snodgra.s.s made notes about the girls. He said he would try to get into communication with them through the parents of the former janitor, though the latter did not know, himself, whether his father and mother were still alive.

"Is it not terrible--awful--this war?" he cried. "I wish all my countrymen were prisoners, and then they could no longer fight, and we would have peace."

"Well, if it keeps on we'll soon have most of the Kaiser's army in a cage like this," declared Ned. "Don't worry--we're going to make a good clean-up of it."

"I hope you do," said Schmouder, and many of his fellow prisoners agreed with him.

At present all the professor could do was to depend on some message getting to the missing girls. As they were not prisoners of war it was thought that perhaps some missive might reach them, though all ordinary communication between Americans and Germany was held up.

The girls, though of Swedish parentage, were citizens of the United States, as the fathers of both were naturalized; therefore, the diplomatic channels of Sweden were closed to them, as the money had been left in Professor Snodgra.s.s' care. The Red Cross might aid, as a last resort, and if that failed all that could be done was to wait until after the war and then seek them out, if the two nieces were still alive.

So, having dispatched several letters by different routes, Professor Snodgra.s.s prepared to spend some time with the boys.

"I might as well study the effect here of noises on insects, as to go back where I was," he said. "Here I shall be nearer those two young ladies, if I can ever find a chance to reach them. We are heading toward Metz, are we not?"

"Yes, and we'll get there," declared Jerry, for by this time enough of General Pershing's plans had developed to show that his armies had this town for one of its objectives. But there was still a long way to go.

True to his determination, Jerry went back to the front with his chums, and Professor Snodgra.s.s, by virtue of special permission, accompanied them. The chums were welcomed by their comrades, and once more took up the life of the trenches.

It was one afternoon, just before time for them to be relieved, that Ned, Bob, and Jerry had their attention drawn to a stretch of No Man's Land in front of them, by hearing some of their comrades say:

"Look at the bug-hunter! What in the name of Billie Bejinks is he doing out there? He'll be bowled over by a German bullet just as sure as guns!"

The three lads looked, and, to their surprise and horror, saw Professor Snodgra.s.s with something supported on his back and partly in his arms, walking across No Man's Land in the direction of the German trenches as unconcernedly as though peace had been declared.

"Look at him!" yelled Ned.

"We've got to get him back!" cried Jerry.

An officer, who had heard the commotion, came in from the nearest dugout and asked:

"Who gave him permission to go out there? Is he deserting?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: THEY MARCHED STRAIGHT FOR THE AMERICAN LINES.

_Ned, Bob and Jerry on the Firing Line._ _Page 183_]

"Indeed he isn't, Sir," answered Ned. "I guess he must be trying some experiment, or looking for bugs."