“But how do you account for the change?” asked Bob. “Why are the guards withdrawn, and why is it that this pepper-pot—if it is he in the cabin—looks so much more like Professor Snodgrass from the front than he did at first?”
“The only way I can account for that,” replied Jerry, “is that it really is Professor Snodgrass this time.”
“This time!” echoed Ned. “Do you mean to say the professor is on board here?”
“He might be,” the tall lad admitted. “You remember we met only the other day a fellow we knew well. He’d been on board since the start of this unfortunate trip, and yet we didn’t know it until we ran plumb into him. It may be the same with the professor.”
“But he’d be sure to look us up if he were here,” declared Bob. “He always does. He’s very friendly, and he likes to be with us. He’d be sure to speak to us if he were on board.”
“Yes, if he knew we were here,” admitted Jerry. “But he may not. If it was he in the cabin, where the door was just closed, you can make up your mind he never saw us.”
“No, I don’t believe he did,” assented Bob. “But if that is the same cabin where pepper-pot was guarded, and he’s gone now, and the real Professor Snodgrass is in his place, how do you account for it?”
“I don’t account for it,” answered Jerry, with a smile. “All I am sure of is that this is the same cabin where the marines were. You can be as sure of that as I am—in fact, I guess you are sure, aren’t you?”
Ned and Bob nodded in affirmation.
“Then,” went on the tall lad, “all that I am sure of, next, is that the guards are gone. And you must admit that it is possible for both Professor Snodgrass and the man we call le cochon to be in that cabin at the same time, isn’t it?”