human
How did you come to get into the war?
gpt
Oh, it was an accident, yet. I came back to Germany to see my old father, and I was caught here when the war broke out. I had not served my full time in the army, and so I had to go in again. Ach! how I hate it. But tell me--why are you here?
human
The same reason that brought every other good American over, replied Ned sharply.
gpt
We want to wipe Prussian militarism off the face of the earth.
human
And a good job, I say! declared Nick Schmouder.
gpt
It is like a bad disease germ. One of those bugs Professor Snodgrass used to show me in the microscope. Ah, I wish I was back at Boxwood Hall with him. He was a nice little man.
human
Yes, he was, agreed Ned.
gpt
And you may see him, if you stay around here.
human
See him? Is the professor in the war, too?
gpt
Not exactly, Bob answered.
human
He is here on a scientific mission. Something about war noises and insects. But he is after something else, too. A friend of his, Professor Petersen----
gpt
Professor Emil Petersen? cried Nick Schmouder in such a strange voice that Ned and Bob stared at him.
human
Did you say Professor Emil Petersen?
gpt
I don't know that I mentioned his first name, but it is Emil, answered the stout lad.
human
Why, do you know him?
gpt
Know him? Why, he once lived in the same German town where my father and mother lived, declared the former janitor.
human
They were friends,--my father worked for him and my mother had looked after him when he was sick--and when the professor, who was studying or something, had to go away, he left his two nieces----
gpt
Two nieces! burst out Ned and Bob together.
human
Do you mean Miss Gladys Petersen and Miss Dorothy Gibbs?
gpt
Yes! Those were the names, announced Schmouder easily.
human
He left the two nieces with my father and mother. They were nice girls!
gpt
Listen to that! cried Ned, thumping Bob on the back.
human
News at last! We must tell Jerry this!