“And how did you get there?” Ned cried.
“Well, I believe an explanation is due you,” said the professor in his gentle, classroom voice. “You remember inviting me to go with you on this trip, I suppose?” he continued, and it was exactly as though he was about to explain something difficult in a scientific way.
“Sure, I asked you to come with us,” admitted Jerry. “And when you didn’t show up we left word for you to follow us to Wyoming. But we’re glad you’re with us now. Only——”
“No doubt my presence here is puzzling,” went on the bald-headed collector of bugs. “But this morning, when I awakened, I had a very severe headache. I sometimes get them when I mix the chemicals with which I preserve my specimens. I have a headache remedy I use on such occasions, but I must have taken a little too much this time, for when I reached here I felt so weak and faint that I was not able to go into your house.
“Then, too, I did not want to alarm your good mother, Ned. So, as I saw the auto here, and knew from past experience that there were cots in it, I thought it would be a good plan to go in and lie down until I felt better.
“I did so. The medicine stopped my headache, but it evidently threw me into a heavy sleep, for I did not realize anything until just now when I felt something fluttering over my face. I fancied it was a moth I was trying to catch.”
“That was me, feeling around for the sandwiches,” explained Bob, with a laugh. “I touched your face and it startled me.”
“Oh, sandwiches!” exclaimed the professor understandingly. “Some sort of package fell to the floor of the car when I stretched out here. I was too tired to see what it was. Perhaps that was what you were looking for.”
It proved to be, and the boys and the professor were soon eating sociably together, while Bob suggested that if the sandwiches were not sufficient there was a hotel a short distance ahead where they could stop.
“The professor might want to get something else for his headache,” suggested the stout lad.