Germany, it was said. Then the professor left just before war was
declared. He suspected it was coming, and said he had certain
investigations he wished to make before the fighting started. He left
the two young ladies in charge of my father and mother, telling them
he would be back as soon as he could, and that, thereafter, he would
look after them."

"What happened next?" asked Bob.

"The war," answered Schmouder succinctly. "That spoiled everything. I
had to go away and leave my parents. What has become of them I do not
know."

"Haven't you heard from them?" asked Ned.

"Not lately, no. Soon after I was forced to join the army I had a
letter, in which they told me they were going farther into Germany to
be safer."

"And what about the two girls and Professor Petersen?" Bob queried.

"What happened to Professor Petersen I cannot tell you," was the
answer. "As for his two nieces, my father wrote that they had gone on
some scientific expedition shortly after the professor left them, and
were not expected back for a month."

"Were they scientists too?" asked Ned.

"I believe so," answered the former janitor. "They loved study, as did
their uncle. At any rate they, too, went into the interior of Germany
just before the war broke out, and what has happened to them I do not
know any more than I know what happened to Professor Petersen."

"We can tell you what happened to him," said Ned. "He died in America,
and left a lot of money."

"So!" exclaimed Schmouder. "Well, it will do no one any good these
terrible days."

"Maybe it will, and perhaps it won't," replied Bob. "At any rate, he
left half his fortune to Professor Snodgrass on condition that our
friend find the two nieces and give them the other half of the
fortune."

"Ach! Well, I shall be glad if the young ladies get something," said
Schmouder.

"Yes, but the trouble is they won't get it if they can't be found,"
said Ned. "And Professor Snodgrass won't get anything, either. Now if
you could only tell us where these two girls are to be found,
why----"

"That I could not do--no one could in these days!" declared the
prisoner earnestly. "I will help you all I can. I am an American at
heart, and I hope you will believe me when I say that every gun I
fired sent its bullets only into the ground. I could not shoot at my
former friends. Germany is no longer a friend to me!"

"Nor to any one else," declared Bob. "Gee! but it's tough to be so
near the solu