“Say, this is getting a bit more than interesting!” cried Ned, as he and Bob gazed at Jerry.

The stout lad looked up at the lifeboat near which he leaned on the rail.

“None of that!” warned Jerry. “Don’t start a rush. There’s no danger!”

But his words did not seem to be borne out, for no sooner was it apparent to all on board that the Sherman had come to a stop again than a sort of panic began which the officers had to work hard to subdue. Finally the colonel commanding the troops had to make an address from the main deck.

“There is absolutely no danger!” he declared. “The captain assures me the ship is not leaking a drop, and we shall soon be back at the dock whence we started. This is unfortunate, but it can not be helped. We shall start for home again as soon as possible.”

“When will that be, sir?” some soldier asked.[19] While another—more than one, in fact—inquired as to the cause of the trouble.

“There has been an accident to the machinery,” the colonel stated. “One of the engines is disabled, and that puts all the work on the remaining unit. I am told that this excess caused a temporary stoppage of the one good engine. But we shall soon be under way again.”

“Was there an explosion?” some one asked.

“A slight one, yes,” was the rather hesitating answer.

“What caused it?”

“Did we hit a mine?”

“Was it a Boche?”

These were only a few of the questions, hurled like hand grenades, at the colonel.

“I am not at liberty to say what caused the explosion,” he announced. “It can not be told at present. All I ask of you—all that your officers ask of you—is that you remain quiet. We shall soon start again, to be quickly back at the dock.”

“For how long?” asked several.

That seemed to strike a popular chord.

“I am sorry, but I am unable to answer that question,” replied the colonel with a smile. “I know you all want it answered, and I will say that if it is found it will require too long to repair the damage to this transport another will be provided.”

[20]

There was a cheer at this, and the colonel and his staff looked relieved. The danger of a panic and a rush for the boats seemed past. But many rumors were still in circulation, and that of a German spy or some Hun sympathizer having tried to sink the transport and the troops gained each hour.

It seemed a very long time, though it was not more than two hours, before the ship was under way again. But she limped along under less than half steam, and many anxious hearts were glad when the dock they had recently left loomed in sight again.

The accident, of whatever nature it was, had happened when the Sherman was not far from shore, and, even had it been necessary to launch the lifeboats and rafts, it is probable that all on board would have been saved.

But there was always danger, especially when the wounded men were considered, and there were not a few of them on board. Consequently, it was with a feeling of relief that all observed the craft being warped back to the berth she had so lately left.

“Now the question arising is: What——”

“Are we going to eat, and when!” interrupted Ned, breaking in on what Bob had started to say.

“As you were! As you were!” growled the stout lad. “I wasn’t going to say that at all.[21] What I mean is: ‘What’s going to happen to us? Shall we have to stay cooped up on board when there’s peace and plenty and room to move about on shore?’”

“Not to mention Marie, of le restaurant de la palma or something like that,” mocked Jerry.

“That’s right—keep on picking at me!” mourned Bob. “But you guys’ll be just as glad as I shall be to get off this tub if she isn’t moving toward the U. S. A.”

“Guess you’re right,” assented Jerry. “It isn’t going to be much fun cooped up here if we’re going to stay tied to the dock. It’s too crowded. Wouldn’t be so bad if we were at sea and knew we were moving toward home. But if we have to hang around this dock it will give me the willies!”

“You said another mouthful!” agreed Ned. “But it’s a good thing this accident didn’t happen when we were three or four days out. And maybe they’ll let us go ashore.”

This hope was realized, at least on the part of the Motor Boys, a little later. Once the Sherman was made fast to the dock again, there were numerous petitions from the privates to their officers for permission to go ashore, if only for a few hours. Ned, Bob, and Jerry made their requests, and, to their delight, they were granted. Perhaps Jerry’s D. S. C. and the honors attained by Ned and Bob had something to do with this.

[22]

“But you must not go far away, and you must report back here on board in three hours,” their captain told them. “It is thought the repairs will be completed by then.”

Jerry and his chums were closely scrutinized and their passes examined with care when they walked down the gangplank to the dock. All who were allowed to go on shore were thus observed, and as the three friends passed out to the streets of the city which had loomed so large of late as the location of the camp of much rain and mud, they noted that the sentries had been doubled around the wharf of the Sherman.

“If there’s a German spy on board he’ll stand a fat chance if they find him,” said Bob, as he and his chums started off on their leave.

The three boys headed at once for a restaurant, for the emergency rations which Bob had, somehow, managed to secure had long since lost their effects. And, for a wonder, Ned and Jerry did not twit their stout companion with being over-zealous in his desire for food. They wanted it as much as he did.

Moreover, they went to the restaurant where the pretty Marie waited on one of the tables. Bob had discovered this “life-saving station” in the midst of his wanderings about Brest, and after some persuasion on the part of his chums had let them into the secret of it. Thereafter they spent[23] much of their leave-time in this place. Now again they headed for it.

And Marie was there. She welcomed the boys with a smile. With smiles, in fact; for though Bob claimed it as his right to bask in them to the exclusion of all others, Marie, in reality, smiled impartially on her “three musketeers.”

“Back so soon?” she asked, with her fascinating accent and pronunciation.

“Yes. Couldn’t stay away from you, ma’m’sell,” returned Bob, trying to catch Marie’s eyes in a glance that meant more than words.

“What’s that? What’s she got to sell?” asked Ned, winking at Jerry.

“Oh, cut it out! That’s an old one,” replied Bob. “I can speak as good French as you.”

“Better, mon ami, much better!” laughed Jerry. “Now you two old roosters stop kidding and get down to business. We have only three hours’ shore leave, so let’s make the most of it. What have you to eat, Marie?”

“Now you’re talking!” commented Ned. “Bob can live on love if he likes, as for me, give me——”

“Liberty or death!” chanted Bob.

They all laughed gaily, and Marie was told, in a casual way, of the accident to the troopship and her trip back to the dock.

The boys were so taken up with the pretty waitress[24] and with getting their appetites in a fair way to be satisfied, that they paid little attention to those around them at the other tables. But when they had begun to eat, and the sharp edge of their hunger was somewhat dulled, Jerry looked about the restaurant to note the possible presence of some of their friends who, like themselves, might have also received shore leave from the Sherman.

Jerry did not see any soldiers whom he and his chums knew, though he did observe a number of Uncle Sam’s boys, together with some French poilus and British Tommies. What attracted his attention, however, was the sight of a little bald-headed man seated at a table two or three removed from the one at which he and his friends were dining. The little man was in civilian clothes.

“Look!” excitedly exclaimed Jerry, nudging Ned, who sat next to him. “Look over there!”

He pointed to the little bald-headed man, who was busy over his soup.

“Professor Snodgrass!” exclaimed Ned. “Well, this is luck!”

Jerry arose from his chair, followed by Ned, and started toward the man to whom he had called the attention of his chums. The man’s back was toward the lads, but there was no doubt in their minds that he was their scientific friend.

“Where have you been, Professor Snodgrass?”[25] asked Jerry, as, with Ned, he stood at the other table.

And then the two boys received the surprise of their lives. For the little man who gazed quickly up at them was not Professor Snodgrass at all, though he bore a wonderfully striking resemblance to him from the back.

But more strange than the fact of his being the professor’s double (which was not so pronounced when his face was seen) was the action of the little man. His face turned red with rage, and he fairly spluttered as he rose from his chair, facing Jerry and Ned, and exclaiming:

“What do you mean? How dare you call me Professor Snodgrass? How dare you insult me? I shall complain to the manager! How dare you?”

Highly indignant, he motioned to Jerry and Ned to move back, and, hardly knowing what they were doing, they retreated, while the eyes of all in the restaurant were turned on them.