“And now,” he added, “since you have done me and this institution I serve a very great service, what can I do for you?”
“One little thing,” the girl smiled. “Find us the crown jewels of Russia. You’ll know them when you see them. There is a tiny platinum train set with diamonds that is kept in a golden egg.”
The professor stared at her as if he believed she had lost her senses. But when the full story was told over a cup of coffee in the professor’s study, he readily enrolled himself as one of that growing band who were pledged to unravel the mystery of the missing parcel.
The human mind behaves in a strange manner at times. Here were a boy and a girl who had come to a man-made island to search for stolen treasure. They had happened upon men who were burying an ancient telescope, and had been frightened away.
Returning next day when they might have searched the whole island at their leisure, they unearthed the telescope, returned it to the custodian, had their morning coffee, and went away.
The island with its grove of young cottonwoods, its many breakwaters, its drifting sands and its three shacks of driftwood built by men of strange names and no reputation, remained quite unsearched.
CHAPTER XXI
ONLY A VOICE
Johnny Thompson’s recollection of that affair in the tunnel will always remain decidedly vague. A wild face, a fleeing form, a voice in the dark, a terrific explosion, and after that darkness and silence.
Some workmen saw a tall, mud-bedraggled figure emerging from the deep gash in the earth which formed the setting for their day of toil. By the time they had found Johnny, this mysterious figure had vanished.
Johnny was taken to the Jefferson Street First Aid Station. There it was found that he was suffering from nervous shock and a bump on the head. A warm room and a steaming cup of coffee did much to restore him. As for the bump, it might interfere with his hat for a day or two; otherwise it was not serious.