“Yes, right away.”
“I—I s’pects I’d better go back an’ ’tend t’ mah weedin’!” exclaimed Ponto, looking as pale as a colored man can look. “Weeds grow powerful fast in dis climate. Dey’ll choke de flowers in about an hour. I’se got t’ ’tend t’ ’em immejeet, sah. I ain’t got no time t’ go huntin’ horned toads. I hopes you’ll ’scuse me, sah,” and with that Ponto was gone, walking faster than he had at any time since the travelers arrived.
“He’s afraid,” said Rose, with a laugh. “I’m not. Come on, Professor, I’ll show you where Ponto means, and maybe we can find some horned toads.”
“Let’s all go,” proposed Jerry.
“I will, if you’ll promise not to let the horrible things come near me,” said Nellie, and Jerry promised.
Mr. Seabury declared he would rather rest on the veranda than hunt horned toads, so the three boys and the trio of girls, with the professor, who armed himself with specimen boxes and a small net, set off after the curious reptiles.
A short distance from the bungalow there was a sort of sandy stretch, where little grew in the way of vegetation, and there, Rose explained, was probably where Ponto had seen the toads. They headed toward it, the scientist eagerly looking on the ground, for a first sight of the specimens he had come so far to seek.
CHAPTER XII.
A STRANGE MEETING
“I guess Ponto must have been asleep when he was walking along here, and dreamed he saw those toads,” commented Ned, after the party had covered a considerable part of the sandy stretch without getting a glimpse of the ugly reptiles.
“That’s too bad!” exclaimed the professor. “I had hopes of finding one here.”