The boys, in company with John, set about preparing a good bed for the newcomer, and he took a part in it most heartily, and seemed to understand when the Professor pointed to him and the bed that it was intended for him.
The interest was more intense when he was taken to the boathouse, which Harry had opened, and when he saw the boats, his eyes opened wide and grew brighter, but they suddenly lost their color and he relapsed into his former state.
It was truly pitiful to watch him, and when in the evening they sat together and conversed, they felt that at times he must have gotten some glimpses of his individuality.
In the morning when George went out to the cattle pens to milk, he mechanically grasped a pail and followed, and the milking operation seemed to be a familiar one to him. Thus, he was a mystery, for the reason that he seemed to be at home in every direction where it called for any special activity. This was made the more mystifying when, during the next day, he wandered over to the laboratory, and his eyes caught sight of the skulls and the skeletons which were on exhibition.
He walked over to the skulls, and picking up one poised it on his hand, slowly turning it around, as though trying to discover what it meant. The one selected had one side partially crushed, and this attracted his attention. He placed the fingers of the other hand in the shattered part, and seemed to realize that some agency must have caused it. The whole deportment while examining it was that of one who was called upon to make an examination of it for the purpose of determining the cause of the injury.
When he laid it down, he looked at the Professor, who quietly took up the skull and pointed to the fracture, endeavoring by his conversation to strike a word or keynote by which some recollection would be started; but he was mute and soon again became listless.
CHAPTER XIV
AN EXCITING TRIP TO THE FALLS
The food supply was now the first thing to consider, as all necessaries in the way of vegetables, as well as meats, had been exhausted when they started on the last trip, and a new lot had to be laid in. The matter of butter was always a hard problem to take care of, and George referred to this difficulty, and before they sailed away the Professor told him that, on their return, the first thing to do would be the construction of a machine which would simplify the production of the butter.