“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 165 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.”