“No, I didn’t,” Ned admitted. “The call woke me, but I couldn’t make out the words.”
“He called for help, and said, very distinctly: ‘They’ve got me,’” repeated Jerry. “I’m sure about that.”
“What did he mean?”
“That’s what we’ve got to find out.”
“Could it have been that he was attacked by a big moth—a giant of its species?” ventured Bob, jokingly.
“Say, this is no joke!” exclaimed Ned, and he glanced involuntarily over his shoulder.
“Let’s make up the fire,” suggested Jerry. “It will be a guiding mark for the professor, and we’ll not go to bed again this night—unless we find him.”
“Why, don’t you think we shall?” asked Bob. “And say, if not a big moth, perhaps a wild animal——”
“Forget it,” advised Ned. “If anything in the animal line attacked the professor it was a bear or a mountain lion, and I don’t believe there have been any of them in this region for years. I think he went puttering around in the dark to see about getting some insects, and he fell over a cliff, or into some hole.”
“But that wouldn’t make him say something—or someone—had him,” refuted Jerry.