Ned, Bob and Jerry on the Firing Line Part 4

"Yes, Pete b.u.mps who used to be your father's hired man. I've engaged him as a helper since you boys joined the army. He runs my auto for me and helps me catch specimens. He isn't afraid of snakes."

And old Pete b.u.mps it was who greeted Ned, Bob and Jerry as they accompanied the professor to his car.

Pete had left the Baker service some time ago, and had secured a place as janitor of a college in which the professor taught, he briefly explained to the boys. There the professor had engaged him just prior to starting out on his present expedition.

"Come on. We've got to hurry back to mess," said Jerry to his chums.

"But we want to have a talk with you, Professor, after you finish dining with the colonel. We want to hear what you are doing here again. I should think once being taken for a German spy was enough,"

and he laughed at the recollection of a former occasion, when the professor, coming to visit his friends at Camp Dixton, had been halted on his way through the lines after some insects.

"I never thought of that," admitted the scientist. "I certainly remember coming down here in the spring, but I forgot about the spy business."

This was not surprising, since the professor seldom remembered for very long anything not directly connected with his favorite study.

And so, with the snake in the box safely confined to the care of Pete b.u.mps in the automobile, Professor Snodgra.s.s went back to dine with the colonel, while the three chums hastened to their delayed mess.

"You never know when he is going to turn up," remarked Ned.

"That's right," agreed Jerry. "I wonder what he's after now?"

They did not have long to wait before learning. Soon after mess they saw the professor coming down their company street and, as they had a brief respite from drills on account of the strenuous work of the morning, the boys took him to a quiet spot and began to ask him questions.

"But first of all, tell us if there is anything the matter?" begged Jerry. "You look worried. Are you?"

"Yes," admitted the little scientist, "I don't mind admitting that I am worried--and puzzled, too."

"What about?" asked Bob. "Ticula hasn't got loose, has she?"

"No, I went over to see, after dining with your colonel, whom I found to be a most delightful man, though his ignorance of reptiles and insects is painful. But, as I say, I a.s.sured myself of the safety of Ticula. Pete has her in the auto."

"Then what's worrying you?" demanded Ned.

"Well, I have a problem to solve and I don't know how to do it," was the answer.

"Has it anything to do with the war?" Jerry queried.

"Yes, it has," was the unexpected answer. "And now that you boys are in the army and expect to go across to France soon, perhaps you can help me. I'll tell you the puzzle I am trying to solve."

CHAPTER IV

A TWO-GIRL PROBLEM

Jerry Hopkins stretched himself lazily and comfortably out on the gra.s.s under the shade tree where he and Bob and Ned had taken Professor Snodgra.s.s for a little talk. They were far removed from the center of the camp, so the noise of the men drilling or at their various occupations came but faintly.

"Do you mean that your problem has to be solved on the other side of the water, Professor?" asked Jerry.

"Part of it has. And I am anxious to get across as soon as possible to begin."

"What?" cried Ned. "You don't mean to say you, too, are going to France, Professor?"

"I hope to," was the answer. "I have arranged to go, and I have my pa.s.sport and some letters of introduction."

"But what are you going for?" asked Bob. "Don't you know you will be in the midst of terrible fighting? You can't solve any problems there.

It will be a bedlam of noise."

"And the noise is just what I want," said Mr. Snodgra.s.s. "That is one of my problems--to find out the effect of noise on the organisms of certain insects and reptiles. Men suffer from sh.e.l.l shock, and why should not insects suffer from the terrific noise of bursting guns?

Most insects are noise-producers themselves," he went on, in something of his cla.s.s-room manner, which the boys so well remembered at Boxwood Hall. "The gra.s.shopper, the katydid and the cricket, to give them their common names, each have a song of their own. These insects are found in France, as well as here, though in somewhat different form.

"Now I have a theory that a long-continued series of terrific noises may produce structural changes in insects, so as to change the character of their 'songs' as I prefer to call their sounds. This can best be studied on the battlefields of France, though I suppose I could get the same effect here, if there was a continuous thunderstorm with vivid lightning.

"But, as that condition is impossible to bring about, I shall best find it in France, and thither I am going, soon I hope. This snake experiment is only a brief one, undertaken at the behest of a friend of mine who is writing a book on the feeding habits of pythons."

"Is that what brought you back to our camp?" asked Jerry.

"Yes. This particular part of the South at this season of the year has the very climate suited to pythons and other large snakes of the tropics."

"I'm sure it's hot enough," murmured Bob, mopping his perspiring face.

"I'm glad we got out of drill this afternoon. But go on, Professor. I didn't mean to interrupt you."

"Well, there isn't much to tell about the snake," said the scientist.

"I purchased Ticula, as I call her, some time ago from a museum. She is a fine specimen of the regal python. Originally she came from Borneo, where she was captured when very young. As I stated, she has not yet attained her growth, and I have succeeded in making quite a pet of her."

"Deliver me from such pets!" murmured Ned.

"Ticula is not a venomous snake," went on the professor. "None of the constrictor type of serpents is, though their power to crush their prey in their folds is enormous. They depend on that power, while the poisonous snakes kill their prey by the use of their venom. But Ticula and I are quite friendly.

"My friend, who is writing a book on snakes, asked me to find out something of how pythons capture their food, and, knowing there would be plenty of large rats in the vicinity of a camp, on account of the great food supply there, I came here with my pet snake.

"I suppose I should have secured permission from some officer to let loose the serpent near one of the buildings, but I forgot all about it, thinking of the problem I have to puzzle over. I also forgot for the time being, that you boys were here at Camp Dixton, or I should certainly have communicated with you and got you to help me.

"But I went at it alone. Pete and I carried the box, with the snake in it, of course, close to one of the buildings. I did not know until later that it was the officers' mess hall. Then Pete left me alone."

"How did you manage to get through the sentry lines unchallenged?"

asked Jerry.

"I don't know," frankly answered the professor. "I suppose it was because no one saw us; or they may have supposed we were bringing some supplies to one of the officers. Then, there was a sham battle going on not far away at the time, and that may have taken the attention of the sentries. Anyhow, I got through the lines, and, opening the box, let Ticula out to roam about and catch a rat if she could.

"I was crawling around after her, watching her as she went under the building when suddenly a soldier pounced on me and yelled that I was a German spy. I was never more surprised in all my life."

Jerry and Bob chuckled.

"I should think you might be!" laughed Ned. "Then what happened?"

"Well, they handled me rather roughly, and took me into custody, as I suppose it is called. They seemed to think Ticula's box was an infernal machine. They were very much excited, and I was trying to explain to them who I was, when Ticula suddenly crawled up through a hole in the floor in the building where I was being questioned."

"And then there was more excitement, I suppose," said Jerry.