“Why not ask the guards?” suggested Ned.
“We can try,” agreed Chunky. “But they didn’t seem very friendly.”
Nor were they when the friends essayed a few questions. The chief one being as to whether or not the marines knew where Professor Snodgrass could be found.
“Go chase yourself,” was all the reply the boys received.
“Well, we’re on our own now, so let’s make a hunt,” suggested Jerry. “He’s somewhere on this ship, and a man with all the peculiarities of Professor Snodgrass can’t be hidden long.”
“That’s true,” assented his chums.
And the search began. How long the three might have been searching, unaided as they were by any information given in response to their many questions, is doubtful. Probably if they had been able to find the purser he would have solved the riddle for them at once.
But that official was not to be found. Doubtless, with the added responsibilities that had come with the accident to the ship he was in great demand and was not long in any one place.
At any rate Ned, Bob and Jerry could not find him, and no one in his department would give them the information they sought. The transport being so large and so crowded, the professor was almost as well hidden as though he were in some large city and no one had his address.