He showed the box. Through the glass top the boys could see that it was full of toads, grasshoppers, small snakes, lizards, bugs, butterflies and bees. The bag was loaded with stones, grass, pieces of wood, plants and flowers.
“It has been a grand day,” went on the professor, enthusiastically, “and I haven’t had a bit of dinner.”
“None of that for mine,” put in Nestor. “I wouldn’t go without my meals for all the bugs and stones in the world.”
“Ah, but you are not a naturalist,” observed the professor, wiping his bald head.
“Did you walk all the way?” asked Ned.
“No; I had a horse. And, bless my soul, I’ve forgotten what I did with the beast. I got off him early this morning to chase after that brown butterfly and I left the horse standing somewhere on the prairie.”
“He evidently was too fond of your company to leave you, however,” said Jerry.
“Why so, young man?” and the professor gazed up through his spectacles.
“Because that is evidently him coming along back there,” and Jerry pointed to a horse slowly approaching.