I got up and looked out of the window. Parnassus was standing
in a narrow lane by a grove of birch trees. The ground was
muddy, and smeared with footprints behind the van. I opened
the door and looked around. The first thing I saw, on the
ground by one of the wheels, was a battered tweed cap.
CHAPTER NINE
My feelings were as mixed as a crushed nut sundae. So the
Professor hadn't gone to Brooklyn after all! What did he mean
by prowling after me like a sleuth? Was it just homesickness
for Parnassus? Not likely! And then the horrible noises I
had heard in the night; had some tramp been hanging about the
van in the hope of robbing me? Had the tramp attacked
Mifflin? Or had Mifflin attacked the tramp? Who had got the
better of it?
I picked up the muddy cap and threw it into the van. Anyway,
I had problems of my own to tackle, and those of the Professor
could wait.
Peg whinneyed when she saw me. I examined her foot. Seeing
it by daylight the trouble was not hard to diagnose. A long,
jagged piece of slate was wedged in the frog of the foot. I
easily wrenched it out, heated some water, and gave the hoof
another sponging. It would be all right when shod once more.
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