“He must have had a ride in someone’s auto then,” commented the tall lad, “for he never could have walked to Bellport from the swamp. That’s what happened—he got a ride on the road.”
“All his things are here,” said the widow.
“He’s got his net and a specimen box,” commented Jerry. “They’re all the baggage he needs.”
The professor did not come back the next day, or the next. Instead came another note saying he might remain away a week, for he had not yet obtained the specimen he was after.
There was nothing strange in this, for he had done the same thing before.
“But if he wants to go with us on a trip he’d better come back pretty soon,” said Bob, one day when he and Ned were calling on Jerry.
“Oh, he’ll be back soon now,” declared the tall lad.
Meanwhile the matter of Mrs. Hopkins’s land came to an issue. The Universal Plaster Company served formal notice on her that if she did not agree to their terms they would drop all negotiations, and her land would be of little value, since there would be no right of way to reach it. Then, too, their lawyer pointed out, Mrs. Hopkins did not have the best title in the world. It was threatened that her claim could not be substantiated in the highest court, and suit was threatened if she did not agree to sell without litigation.
“Why, they’re practically forcing you to sell that land, Mother!” cried Jerry.
“I know it, my boy,” answered the widow. “But what can I do? I really need the money from it, though it isn’t so much. I need it at this time especially, for some of my securities are so depreciated that it would be folly to sell them. Later on they may increase in value. Meanwhile the money from the land will tide us over.”