CHAPTER XIII
A WELL-KNOWN VOICE
In the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments is told the story of Ali Baba andthe 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, throughwhich they had a glimpse of the well-remembered figure, and as togetherthey uttered the magic word “Professor Snodgrass,” the same thinghappened as happened to Ali Baba.
The door of the cabin was quickly shut, and not by the figure seated atthe 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 thenpeered 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 ourfaces?”
“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 shutit. 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 lookup once from his papers. It was the same old Professor Snodgrass--moreintent on finding out how many legs some new kind of ant has than onhis 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,” admittedJerry. “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 Nedseemed siding with Jerry Hopkins. “Every other time he’s seen us he’sbeen tickled to death. This time----”
“He didn’t see us this time--that’s all there is to it,” declaredJerry. “Professor Snodgrass or not, whoever is in that room neverlooked up to see us, though he--whoever he is--may have heard us callout 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?” Jerrycountered.
“Oh! _Le cochon!_” Bob exclaimed. “That’s so! He does look a lot likeour friend. But not from the front, Jerry Hopkins! Not from the front!”he added quickly, as he recalled that circumstance, and the fact thatthis time they had had a full-face view of the man now sitting behindthe closed cabin door. “The pepper-pot looks like the professor fromthe 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 ina manner that, had they not been so excited, would have roused theircuriosity.
“And this isn’t the same cabin, either!” reiterated Ned. “The one wherethe marines are on guard, and where we think the pepper-pot is held aprisoner, is on the deck below.”
“Are you sure of that?” asked Jerry, and the manner of his asking madeboth Ned and Bob look more closely at the corridor in which they werethen 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 ofsatisfaction. “But we might as well hike along. No use standing heretalking 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 reallyknow what to think.”
“As you say, it’s a mystery,” conceded Bob. “But can’t we get to thebottom of it? Say, all sorts of things are happening on our homewardtrip. Here we are delayed because of some mysterious explosion onboard, there’s a mysterious prisoner in a mysterious cabin guarded bymarines, 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 talkit over.”
“Good idea,” agreed Ned. “I guess we’ll have enough excitement doingthat not to need other recreation.”
In as secluded a spot as the three Motor Boys could find on the crowdedtroopship, they talked over the incidents of the trip thus far.
“Then you are sure the cabin where we saw the professor--or at leastthe cabin where the door was shut so soon after we uttered hisname--you’re sure that’s the same cabin where the marines were onguard, 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 guardswithdrawn, and why is it that this pepper-pot--if it is he in thecabin--looks so much more like Professor Snodgrass from the front thanhe did at first?”
“The only way I can account for that,” replied Jerry, “is that itreally is Professor Snodgrass this time.”
“_This_ time!” echoed Ned. “Do you mean to say the professor is onboard here?”
“He might be,” the tall lad admitted. “You remember we met only theother day a fellow we knew well. He’d been on board since the start ofthis unfortunate trip, and yet we didn’t know it until we ran plumbinto him. It may be the same with the professor.”
“But he’d be sure to look us up if he were here,” declared Bob. “Healways does. He’s very friendly, and he likes to be with us. He’d besure to speak to us if he were on board.”
“Yes, if he knew we were here,” admitted Jerry. “But he may not. If itwas he in the cabin, where the door was just closed, you can make upyour mind he never saw us.”
“No, I don’t believe he did,” assented Bob. “But if that is the samecabin where pepper-pot was guarded, and he’s gone now, and the realProfessor 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 sureof is that this is the same cabin where the marines were. You can be assure 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 thatthe guards are gone. And you must admit that it is possible for bothProfessor Snodgrass and the man we call _le cochon_ to be in that cabinat the same time, isn’t it?”
“Yes, of course it is,” assented Ned. “But from the way that pepper-pottalked of our friend I shouldn’t think they’d want to be in the samecabin.”
“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’ssomething queer going on here aboard the _Sherman_. We’ve done our partin 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 thesilence by saying:
“Well, it certainly is a mystery! I only wish we could have a talk withProfessor Snodgrass--provided he’s here--and see what he has to say.”
“I wish the same thing myself,” admitted Jerry. “And now perhaps we’dbetter go on with our original plan, and see if we can do something toorganize 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 thedeck above. The shuffling of many feet told of soldiers rushing t
o andfro, while there were shouts that seemed to be those of alarm.
“Hello! Something else doing!” cried Ned, as he hurried toward acompanionway that led to the upper decks.
The three reached the deck together, and as they emerged into the openthey 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 tobe expected when there’s a dead calm at this time of year. We’refog-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 hearingthrough the dim, misty whiteness a well-known voice saying:
“Don’t disturb me now, and please don’t come too close! This is thebest chance I’ve had for a long while to catch some of the mist-flies.Please don’t interrupt me, gentlemen!”