With one accord Ned, Bob, and Jerry looked at one another, their faces close together in the thick fog that was settling down over everything in a white, damp pall.

“There isn’t any doubt of it now!” exclaimed Jerry.

“I should say not!” agreed Bob.

“That’s the voice of Professor Snodgrass,” declared Ned. “I’d know it among a hundred, even if he didn’t use his characteristic talk about some new kind of bug.”

“Mist-flies!” exclaimed Bob. “What are they?”

“Oh, some kind of insect that flies only in a fog—or at least that’s what the professor thinks they are,” commented Jerry.

“Well, now that we’re sure—or almost positively so—that Professor Snodgrass is on board,” suggested Ned, “why not see him? Let’s call out and let him know we’re here—within a hundred feet of him, I should say, though this fog is so[110] thick that he may be several hundred feet off. Voices carry very plainly over water and through heavy mist. I’m going to——”

“You’re going to keep still—at least for a while!” interrupted Jerry, putting his hand over Ned’s mouth in time to prevent that energetic lad from sending out a call to the unseen owner of the voice which sounded so like that of Professor Snodgrass.

“Just wait a bit,” Jerry went on, when Ned had recovered his composure caused by the sudden stoppage of his vocal powers. “I admit that the voice was that of our professor, but maybe it would spoil his plans to be recognized just now or to meet with us.”

“How could it?” asked Bob.

“That’s what I don’t know,” Jerry was frank enough to admit. “But for some reason the professor prefers to remain somewhat concealed. He must have his own reason for that. Very good—it’s his privilege. Now let’s wait until this thing clears up.”

“Do you mean the fog?” asked Ned.

“Partly that, yes. Great guns! isn’t it thick, though? You could almost slice it like cheese.”

“It’s dangerous, too,” said Ned.

“That’s so,” assented Jerry. “This fog adds another danger to this eventful voyage. I never saw mist so thick.”

[111]

“What are we going to do?” Bob asked.

“There isn’t anything we can do,” Jerry declared. “All any one can do is to wait for it to lift. I suppose they have a means of sounding some sort of warning signal.”

“No, I didn’t mean so much what can we do about the fog, though that’s bad enough—seems to take away all my appetite,” complained Chunky. “I meant what are we going to do about Professor Snodgrass? Now that we know he’s on board oughtn’t we do something?”

“Yes,” admitted Jerry, “I believe we ought. But not just yet. Let’s wait a while. We’ve got plenty of time. The professor can’t get away any more than we can, and if we start looking for him now we may get him into some sort of mixup. Let matters take their course for a while.”

“I don’t hear anything of him now,” said Ned, listening intently. “He seems to be on the still hunt for his new fog-bugs.”

Though all about them, coming through the white mist, were murmurs of voices and the sound caused by the movement of many bodies, neither of the three lads had a glimpse of Professor Snodgrass. Nor did the echo of his peculiar voice come to them.

The fog seemed to be growing more dense every minute. There was no wind to carry the mist away, and it hung about the disabled troopship[112] like some heavy, white veil. It was actually impossible to see more than fifty feet, and then only dimly. To peer out over the side of the craft was to gaze into a white sea, opaque and impenetrable. To look forward or aft was to note the same thing. From amidships neither stern nor bow of the Sherman could be seen, and men moving about the decks actually collided with one another.

“Why don’t they do something?” complained more than one fretful voice, and it was evident that many were under a great strain.

“What can they do?” asked Jerry, of one of these complaining soldiers. “The invention hasn’t been dreamed of that will dissipate a fog at sea.”

“Well, why don’t the sailors fire guns, blow horns, or something, so we won’t be run down?” went on the other. “We’re floating around here like a log, and we may have a crash before very long.”

“I fancy they’ll start signaling soon,” said Ned.

“How are they going to when they can’t get up steam for the engines?” Bob asked.

“Oh, they’ve got donkey engines for hoisting out the cargo,” remarked Jerry. “Those boilers can make steam, and I guess it can be conveyed to ............