Part 7 (1/2)

”I'm very dusty,” said the traveller.

”We don't mind at all,” answered the girls. They liked the little man with his far-away look as if he belonged to another world and were seeing sights that no one around him was seeing.

”Isn't he a dear!” whispered Bet. ”I like him!”

Little did the girls dream that most of their summer adventures would center around this shabby figure; adventures that would thrill them and at times almost overcome them.

If they had guessed it, they could not have been more cordial in their greeting and more eager to help him. Although none of them realized it, a problem to solve was already presenting itself.

CHAPTER V

_A SOLITARY EXPLORER_

As Matt Larkin brought his car to a stop, the traveller greeted them as if he were an old acquaintance and had made an appointment for them to meet him at this very spot in the desert and had been waiting and expecting them to come along. He took it as a matter of course that he would be invited to ride and the moment the door of the car was opened he scrambled in with quick, nervous movements.

He was a thin faced little man, stoop shouldered as if he had spent his life bent over books, but there was a charm in his twinkling eyes that made friends at once for him, no matter what society he entered. He was equally at home with people of wealth as he was with the poorest of his friends.

So eager was the old man to be seated, out of the scorching rays of the sun, that he left his bundle lying at the side of the road.

”Your pack!” called Kit, as Matt was about to start the car. ”You've forgotten your pack!”

The man gave her a grateful smile. ”That's just like me to leave it.

Alicia said I was sure to do just that,” he laughed nervously.

He jumped out of the car and quickly recovered his property. ”Don't know what I would have done if I'd lost it--all my sustenance and books.”

”Listen to the old chap,” whispered Joy in s.h.i.+rley's ear. ”He's a regular highbrow. Hear him talk! 'Sustenance', what does that mean?”

”Why, his food, of course,” replied s.h.i.+rley with a laugh.

”Then why didn't he say so? Isn't the word 'food' polite enough for him?” giggled Joy.

”I wonder who he is?” Kit was puzzled by the man. He did not belong to the desert, of that she was sure.

As if in answer to her thought, the stranger announced: ”I am Anton Gillette of Dorsey College. I'm on an exploring expedition.”

”A professor!” gasped Joy in a low voice. ”He'll spoil all our fun.

We'll have to pretend we're clever or something of the sort.” This was whispered in Bet's ear and brought forth a laugh.

”Be yourself, Joy! Don't try to be clever. It might strain you.” Bet leaned forward eagerly and addressed the old man. ”An exploring expedition! How interesting that sounds. What are you going to explore? And where?”

”Are you going to find a buried city?” asked Enid excitedly.

”Hardly a buried city in this country,” he returned.

”But why? When there were seven cities of Troy and maybe more, why can't it be possible that there is one buried city here?”