Aeroplane Boys Flight

by John Luther Langworthy

  CHAPTER XIII

  THE BUTTERFLY COLLECTOR

  The dinner passed off without the odd little professor showing up,although Sallie said it was nothing unusual for him, and that he wasliable to appear at any time, carrying his little white hand-net, and asmall handbag in which he claimed to keep the trophies of the chase thathad been run down during his last campaign.

  Frank wanted to get a chance to confer with his chum, and as soon as hecould conveniently withdraw from the table, giving Andy a nod, he wentout on the porch where he could look down the lane that led to the poorroad, which in turn, after many trials and tribulations merged into themain pike.

  Andy joined him there a minute later, with a question in his eye.

  "Professor Whitesides!" was what Frank remarked.

  "And a butterfly collector at that!" Andy went on to say, with cuttingsarcasm.

  "That sounds pretty rich, to me," his cousin continued. "I wonder, now,could it be possible that the other man we've heard of lately, CasperBlue, is playing a smart trick on these honest people, who would neverdream that he could be anything else than he claimed."

  "It would give him a splendid chance to wander around just whenever andwherever he wanted to go, and nobody to ask questions. Then, when he gothungry, why, he could drop in at the farm. Perhaps he don't like campingout as well as the other fellow; perhaps his health is too delicate tostand roughing it. Or he might have any one of a dozen other reasons forcarrying on this way; always providing that this is Casper Blue."

  Andy was brimful of excitement. His manner would forcibly remind one ofthe nervous tension that seizes upon the hounds when the scent growsstrong, and they anticipate coming in sight of their quarry at anymoment.

  "We're taking a good deal for granted, seems to me," remarked Frank.

  "Of course, but then see how queer it is that this man who calls himselfa college professor, and collector of bugs and butterflies, should justhappen to drop in here at the Hoskins farm, where the thistles grow sowild, and the moths and other things are to be found by thousands. Wenever heard of him in town, that I can remember. And then he's small insize; together with a stiff arm, that was injured in an accident; well,wasn't Casper Blue knocked out of his job as an air pilot by his armfailing him when he had to handle the levers like a flash, or have hisaeroplane turn upside-down, Frank? I tell you I just feel dead sure it'sour man, and that we've found the clue we want the first thing."

  "Well, if we could manage to get a peep into his room perhaps we wouldrun across something worth while?" Frank suggested.

  "We might pretend to be deeply interested in butterflies ourselves,"remarked Andy, "even if we don't really know one kind from another; andperhaps, if you gave Sallie a sly hint that you'd be tickled to see whatsort of a collection her professor has with him, she'd let us look inhis room."

  "We'll make the try, anyhow," said Frank, firmly.

  "But think of this Casper Blue being able to carry out the part of alearned professor, would you? That is something most yeggmen would finda pretty hard proposition, don't you say, Frank?"

  "Well, stop and think a little, Andy," was the other's reply to this."From all accounts this man isn't just a common, everyday hobo. He usedto be known as something of an aviator before he met with that accidentthat disabled his arm, and made it impossible for him to go up again.And the fact is, I seem to remember having seen that name mentionedamong a list of airmen who had been either killed, or knocked out byaccidents happening to them."

  "That's all right, Frank, but it takes a pretty smart man to carry out apart like he's doing."

  "Didn't Larry tell us that this same Casper Blue had once been an actorbefore he took to the air for a living?" asked Frank.

  "You're right, he did that same thing, but somehow it seemed to haveslipped my mind. But you never forget a single thing, do you, Frank? Andif he used to be an actor, why, of course Casper would find it easy toplay this part. Perhaps he's just enjoying it the best you ever heardof. Some people are never happy unless they're hoodwinking others."

  "Let's go back and find Sallie, and get to talking about butterflies andgypsy moths, and all sorts of things in that line we can think of,"suggested Frank. "Then she'll believe we're head over ears interested inwhat her boarder is doing, and if I give her a little hint she may askus to step in and take a peek at his room. Of course we mightn't pick upanything worth while there; and then again there's always a littlechance we could."

  "It's worth while, I think," declared Andy, who seldom disagreed withany proposition his cousin advanced, simply because Frank was usually sowise that he succeeded in covering the whole ground the very firstthing.

  So they once more left the porch, though both boys looked down the lanebefore going in, to make sure that the queer little butterfly collectorwas not coming in time to interfere with their immediate plans.

  Sallie was just tidying up the diningroom when they found her. The goodwoman of the house seemed to have gone into the kitchen, where she waspreserving some sort of fruit, or making catsup, to judge from thefragrant odors that came floating out from that part of the farmhouse.

  Naturally Sallie was only too willing to enter into conversation againwith two such attractive looking and bright boys as Frank and Andy Bird.She must have been aware of the fact that they were favorites among thegirls of Bloomsbury; and of course also knew something about their beingaviators, although both or 'them had shunned that subject carefullywhile at the dinner table.

  And so Frank managed to gradually steer the conversation around to thesubject of bug collection. He told of a friend he once had who was"daffy" along that line, and would rather capture some queer looking oldnight-flying hairy moth, with a death's-head sign on his front, thanenjoy the finest supper, or listen to the best play.

  That allowed Andy to venture the suggestion that he had takenconsiderable interest in butterflies himself, and always wanted to see acollection that was worth while. Of course he did not have to explainthat the only interest he ever did have in the matter was when, as avery small boy, he used to chase after the fluttering insects as theywent from flower to flower, until shown by his mother how cruel it wasto destroy the life of such wonderfully beautiful things, that he couldnot restore again.

  Sallie took the bait, Andy knew from the eager light that flashed uponher face. And when he saw her step over to a window, and look quicklydown the lane, he turned to his cousin, and made a grimace as much as tosay, "See how she fell to my little game, will you, old fellow?"

  "Well," said Sallie, flitting back again, "Professor Whitesides hasn'tgot a very large collection; and the new specimens he gathers day afterday he kept in some place, because he has no time just now to doanything with them, he says; but come up with me, and I'll show you thelittle case he brought with him."

  "Sure we will, and I'm glad of the chance to see what valuablebutterflies look like," Andy went on to remark.

  "He says this little collection is a very rare one, and worth an awfullylarge sum of money," Sallie went on to remark, in something of aconfidential tone, as if getting the boys ready to be surprised whenthey looked upon the possessions of the industrious professor. "And oh!if you could only hear all the queer things he's been telling us thathappened to him in foreign lands, when he was spending ever so muchmoney, and long weary months, finding these very rare specimens. Why, Ijust stand there, and look at them, and wonder how people can be sofoolish, when it seems to me I've seen much prettier butterflies rightout there in our fields where the thistles are blooming."

  It seemed that the room they had given the wonderful man of science wason the ground floor, and opened off the parlor.

  The two boys followed Sallie in, and noted her rather awed manner 5evidently the professor, whether he turned out to be a fraud or thegenuine article, had succeeded in arousing both her admiration andwonder.

  The room was plainly yet comfortably furnished, but evidently theprofessor, like so many other learned savants, did not know such a
thingas "order" existed, for things were simply topsy-turvy.

  "He just won't let us sweep in here, or do the least thing," explainedSallie, as if she feared the boys would blame her for the looks of theroom, "you know, he's so queer, and he says we might lose something thathe valued very highly, thinking it was not worth keeping. But here's thelittle case containing those almost priceless specimens he collectedabroad."

  She led them to a table on which a small case rested, leaning againstthe wall. Frank took one look. Apparently the sight affected himstrangely, for immediately he bent over closer as though to feast hiseyes on those costly trophies which the college professor had collectedin foreign lands.

  Andy saw that his cousin was evidently having some sort of a silentlaughing fit, for he shook all over though not uttering a single sound.

  "What ails you, Frank?" he whispered, taking advantage of Sallie havingto hurry out of the room, as her mother's voice was heard calling her inthe kitchen.

  "I'm tickled to death to meet an old friend again, that's all," repliedFrank.

  "Do you mean to tell me you've seen this wonderful collection before?"demanded the other, like a flash, as it were.

  "I most certainly do; and if you stop to think, Andy, I guess you'll saythe same; or perhaps, now, you didn't happen to examine the case asclosely as I did, that day last spring when we crossed over to Cranford,to pick up a few rare stamps for our collection at Snyder's old curiostore."

  "Why, bless me, I really believe you're right; I seem to remember seeingit in the show window, now, when we were looking at the little basketsof coins," Andy hastened to remark.

  "There isn't the least shadow of a doubt about it," added Frank. "Sometime or other, when the notion came to this man to play the part of abutterfly collector, which perhaps the sight of the things brought tohis mind, he just stepped into Snyder's store, and bought the oldcollection. Why, it hasn't got a single specimen that you can't find athousand of, any day you look, through August and September."

  "Right around here, you mean, Frank?"

  "Right on this farm, in fact," replied the other, with a wide grin."Think of the nerve of this learned scientist bringing this here, andtelling that it represented the results of years of difficult research?You don't wonder, now, that I just had to snicker, do you, Andy?"