[CHAPTER XII]
IN THE GYMNASIUM
Professor Snodgrass was so entangled between two strands of the barbed wire that it took the united efforts of Ned, Bob and Jerry to extricate him. Even then they did not do it without tearing his clothes.
“How did it happen, Professor?” asked Jerry. “Did a bull chase you?”
“No,” was the answer. “I was after a particularly choice specimen of the Vanessa milberti, a butterfly the larva of which feeds upon the nettle plant. I wished to make some experiments, and I needed this butterfly. I have never seen it in this vicinity so late in the season.”
“Did you get it?” asked Bob.
“I am sorry to say I did not.”
“What happened?” Ned interrogated.
“The fence,” replied the professor rather grimly. “The butterfly, and a beauty it was, was just beyond the fence. There was no time to climb it, had I considered myself able to do so. I reached my arm, with the net, through between two wires, and, just as I was going to make the capture, my foot slipped and I came down on the barbs. Then, when I tried to get up, those above me caught in my coat and I was held there. The butterfly got away, and I was obliged to call for help. It is fortunate you happened along, for few students come to these woods, though there are several interesting plants and trees growing here, that well repay study.”
“We only happened here by chance,” remarked Ned.