“I don’t remember,” the professor stated. “Though I do seem to recall having heard you speak of him.”
“But was Bill with them? Did they have Bill?” cried Jerry.
“Yes, Cromley was with them. I caught a glimpse of him lying bound and gagged on the bottom of the wagon. That’s what made them attack me,” said Uriah Snodgrass. “I tried to go to the rescue of Cromley, but they attacked me, and they smashed my specimen boxes—all but this one,” and he looked at the container Jerry had handed him. “Worse than that, they let out every one of my specimens! Some I hadn’t yet put in the cyanide, and they were alive. They released them all—and they were the rarest specimens I ever had. Oh, it was terrible!”
“But did they do anything to you?” asked Mallison. “It looks so, judging by the state of your clothes.”
“Yes, they didn’t treat me any too gently,” he answered. “But that doesn’t matter—or it wouldn’t have mattered—if they had only left me my specimens! Oh, it is terrible to lose all those lovely specimens!”
“You should have had some vespa maculata with you,” remarked Bob.
“I only wish I had had! A nest full of hornets would have sent those rascals flying!” declared Uriah Snodgrass.
“But you haven’t yet told us what happened or given us a clew by which we can trail Noddy,” objected Tinny.
“I’m coming to that,” promised the professor. “Just give me another drink of water, will you please, Ned?”
The cup was passed, after having been filled at the spring, and then Bob asked: