“No, though that commission was hard enough. This time I have an order from the Boston museum to get a specimen—three or four, if I can—of the hermit crab, the Pagurus, or Eupagurus Bernhardus. And to do this I shall have to search on the bottom of the sea. So if you have a submarine boat anywhere around, boys, I’d like to use her, for I must get that specimen!”
Jerry, Ned and Bob looked at one another. The professor’s words stirred strange recollections.
[CHAPTER V]
A FEARFUL GALE
“Well, boys, you seem to think there is something strange in my new quest,” remarked Professor Snodgrass, looking from one to the other of the motor boys. “Don’t you care to go off on expeditions with me any more? I know you used to be fond of traveling. And now, when I come to you with this proposition, you seem to think it is too much.
“As soon as I received the commission to get a hermit crab—one that lives in the shell of some mollusk—I thought of you boys. I said to myself that you were not afraid to sail through the air, so naturally you wouldn’t back out when it came to going under water. And now——”
“It isn’t that, Professor,” interrupted Jerry, respectfully. “It’s just the suddenness of it, and a peculiar coincidence. We haven’t thought much about a submarine, though I’m sure we could manage one if we tried. It’s just a certain happening that occurred yesterday that made us seem so surprised. We’ll tell you all about it.”
“One moment!” exclaimed Mrs. Hopkins. “I didn’t object very much, Jerry, when you wanted to take up aeroplaning, though I was very anxious. But I am afraid I must draw the line at submarines. I am so afraid of them. Professor Snodgrass, if I had known this was the nature of your new quest, I’d never have let you mention it to the boys,” and she playfully shook her finger at him.