[CHAPTER XIV]
THE WRECK OF THE LIMITED
The door of the station opened, and the ticket agent rushed in. At a glance he sized up the situation, the girl on the shelf, screaming, the excited professor holding his hands over the bananas and three more or less startled boys looking on.
“What’s the matter?” demanded the agent. “Mildred, has anything happened? Have these people annoyed you?”
“Oh, no, father. It’s a mouse—a mouse in the bananas, but the gentleman has captured it. But he acted so queer—he called out so, and—and——” She stopped, on the verge of tears.
The agent took a step forward. His manner was rather threatening. Jerry saw that it was time to explain at once.
“It’s all right,” he said in a quiet voice. “We did start to have a little fun with our friend,” and he nodded at Bob, “but we had no intention of annoying the young lady. We——”
“Oh, no, they didn’t annoy me, father,” the girl said earnestly. “It’s only the mouse.”
“It isn’t a mouse at all!” broke in the professor. “It is a very rare specimen of a long-tailed scorpion and——”