tion and then to fail."

"Don't give up yet," advised Ned. "We can tell Professor Snodgrass
what we have learned, and maybe he can find a way to get in
communication with the young ladies. It's a pity Professor Petersen
didn't give them half his fortune when he was alive, and save all this
bother."

"Yes, it would have been a good idea!" scoffed his chum. "The girls
and Professor Snodgrass would have been better off. But, as a rule,
people don't do that sort of thing. I haven't noticed your father--nor
mine--giving away half of his possessions. However, the money may be
lost entirely now. I don't see how it can be paid over, inherited or
whatever the term is anyhow, in these days. Maybe the war has wiped
out Professor Petersen's fortune."

"I hardly think that," said the former janitor. "He was not a German,
and his wealth was not in that country. He was a very careful man, and
if he left any money to any one you may be sure it is waiting for
them, wherever they are."

"That's the point!" exclaimed Bob. "The money may be all right, but we
can't find those for whom it is intended. And if Professor Snodgrass
can't locate the girls, all the fortune goes to a humane society."

"Ach! So?" exclaimed Nicholas Schmouder. "Well, it is better that than
Germany should get it. Please tell your friends that I did never fire
my gun at them--always into the ground," he said wistfully, as the
boys turned away from the prisoners' wire cage.

"We'll do the best we can for you," they said. But there was little
they could do to make life any easier for their old friend, who,
through no fault of his own, was in a bad predicament.

When next they had a chance to visit Jerry the two chums told him all
they had heard, and the wounded lad suggested that they should write
to Professor Snodgrass at once, urging him to come on and have a talk
with Schmouder. This Ned and Bob did, though there was no certainty
that their letter would reach the scientist, or that he would be able
to obey the instructions in it. They had his last address, but he was,
at best, uncertain in his movements, and now, with the great forward
movement of the American armies beginning, it was hard for any one to
get to the front.

"But we've found out something, anyhow," declared Ned. "The girls are
somewhere in Germany, if they are still alive, and it may be possible
for Professor Snodgrass to give them half the money and keep the other
half for his own necessities