“What can we do?” Ned returned.
“Let’s go after him and bring him back!” exclaimed the excitable Bob. “Maybe the Germans have him!”
“Then we’ll not easily get him,” said Jerry. “And, as a matter of fact, we can’t even try.”
“Why not?” asked Ned.
“Because we can’t leave. All furloughs have been stopped these last three days. We may go into action any minute. If the professor is in trouble we can’t help him.”
“That seems hard,” murmured Bob.
“It is,” agreed Jerry. “But it’s the fortune of war. We’re here to fight, and we’ve got to do that when the time comes. It may be that the professor has only wandered off among our own soldiers, or those of the French or English, after a butterfly or some other bug.”
“But without his hat!” exclaimed Bob.
“And gone more than a day!” added Ned. 219
“Those things wouldn’t worry him,” said Jerry. “Half the time he forgets his hat, and it is midsummer now. As for being gone more than a day, he’s often spent longer than that chasing a single flea. He is used to camping out, and he’ll get along somehow. We’ll just have to let him go, that’s all.”