“Well, for the love of butter and eggs!” cried Jerry. “What have you there, Son?”
“This is bait for white-tailed night moths,” Bob answered, grinning. “I got some from the chef to use in the traps the professor is going to set.”
“He has you there, Jerry!” laughed Ned. “Go to it, Bob! I’ll help eat ’em.”
They found Professor Snodgrass eagerly looking along the shady side of the hotel, a large magnifying glass in his hand, and behind him stood a group of men observing him with puzzled eyes.
“I was looking for a small, rare bug, green in color, that I saw crawling on the side of the hotel,” the professor explained. “I have only one in my collection, and if anything should happen to that I would be at a great loss. I saw it crawling here a while ago, but it must have gone down a crack. However, I won’t delay you boys, though I should very much like to have that bug.”
“Is this it?” asked one of the observers, making a sudden grab for something in the air. He brought what he had caught to the professor, and the latter’s eager glance gave way to disappointment when he saw a green grasshopper fly from the opened hand.
“Oh, pshaw!” cried the man. “He’s gone!”
“It wasn’t what I wanted,” returned the professor with a smile. “Thank you, though. I shall have to try again some other time. Now, boys, I’m ready to go on with you.”
The rest of that day passed uneventfully. Good time was made and when evening approached the boys and the professor had put about two hundred miles between themselves and Cresville, and were that much nearer Square Z ranch.
“What’s it going to be—camp out or sleep in a hotel?” asked Ned, who had remained at the wheel since dinner time. “That sign we passed a while ago said there was a hotel about five miles further on.”