As the auto sped along, Professor Snodgrass asked Tommy Bell how he had come to the hut in the forest.
“Those men took me there,” replied the boy.
“And what did they try to make you do?” asked Jerry.
“They wanted me to tell them where my father was,” went on Tommy. “I could not because I did not know, and they burned me, because they did not believe I was telling the truth.”
“What did they want of your father?” inquired Mr. Snodgrass.
“They want him to sign some papers connected with some property,” went on Tommy. “I don’t know much about it, except that father used to work with those men developing a mine. It didn’t pay, and they left it, after selling it to some other men. I lived with my father, and my mother was alive then.”
The boy stopped, and, at the mention of his mother’s name began to cry softly.
“Poor little lad,” muttered the professor, putting his arm, with a sort of caressing motion about Tommy. “Don’t cry, lad,” the scientist went on, in what seemed a sort of husky voice, for he was very fond of children; “don’t worry, we’ll look out for you; won’t we, boys?”
“You bet!” exclaimed Jerry, Ned and Bob in one voice.