"No, after a while he seemed to come to, and was all right, but he
looked sick. Mr. Hitter said there must be something queer in that
box, to make the dog act that way, and he and I smelled of it, taking
care not to get too close."

"What was in it?" asked Ned.

"I don't know. It was something that smelled rather sweet, and
somewhat sickish. Mr. Hitter said it might be some queer kind of
poison that acted on animals, but not on human beings, and he put the
box up on a high shelf where his dog couldn't get at it. But I thought
it was rather queer stuff for a man to be sending away out to the
coast."

"It certainly was," agreed Bob. "That man acted in a strange manner,
too, as if he was afraid some one would see him. I wonder if there is
any mystery connected with him?"

There came a time when the boys had good reason to remember this
incident of the box filled with a strange substance, for they were in
great danger from it.

"Well, I don't know that it concerns us," mused Ned. "I guess we'll
not get any damages from the railroad company in time to use the money
on our California trip, so we might as well take some cash out of our
saving fund. I do wish we'd hear from the professor. It's several days
since I wrote to him, saying we would go with him."

"I suppose he is so busy catching a new kind of flea, or a rare