“I didn’t know what to think, nor what to expect or suspect,” answered Ned. “At one time Dr. Hallet seemed about to tell me everything, and explain a lot of queer circumstances. Then something happened—I think it was when our wireless got to working—and there was too much excitement to think of anything but a rescue. Since we’ve been on this warship the doctor has avoided me. I declare I didn’t know what to think.”
“Nor did we until the professor explained,” said Jerry. “It seems we were all wrong in our conjectures, but it wasn’t exactly our fault, for the doctor’s trouble made him irresponsible.”
“Does that account for his talk against the professor in the restaurant, and why he had a guard at his cabin?” asked Ned.
“Yes,” was the answer from Bob, while Jerry said:
“I’ll tell you the yarn, Ned. All our troubles are over now, I hope. We had enough of them while they lasted, and at one time it seemed as if we were all booked for Davy Jones’ locker. But here we are, and we’ll soon be back home where we can live life as it ought to be lived.”
“We’ll have our meals on time, for one thing,” declared Bob.
“And the folks will be glad to see us,” added Jerry.
“And perhaps some others than just our folks,” put in Ned, with a smile. He was thinking of girls, and, perchance, one in particular.
The story Jerry told, having had it from Professor Snodgrass, was to the effect that Dr. Hallet had once been a colleague of the little scientist with whom the Motor Boys had made so many trips. When the war broke out and Professor Snodgrass went to Europe to study the effect of battle noises on certain insects, Dr. Hallet made a like voyage to take up another branch of science. In some lines he and Professor Snodgrass were associated, working to the same end. In other lines they differed radically, and often violently, though they were always good friends and helped one another.
Dr. Hallet went too near the front toward the close of the war, and was under fire. He suffered from shell shock, which affected his mind, and among his hallucinations was one in which he imagined that Professor Snodgrass was his enemy and was trying to obtain a certain scientific secret from him.