“But why would he be showing it to our old professor?” asked Tom. “If he wants to keep it a secret why is he giving it away like that?” “Hard to say,” commented Jack. “I think, though----” He did not finish, for at that moment Mr. Skeel and the hermit leaped to their feet and gazed down the path as though they heard some one coming. CHAPTER XI AN ANGRY HERMIT “Something new on the programme,” commented Tom in low voice. “Do you think they heard us?” asked Dick. “No, they couldn’t. And they don’t see us. They’re looking the other way,” said Jack. “But there’s something doing,” declared Bert. “I wonder what it is?” They had their answer a moment later, when there came into view around the bend in the path Sam Heller and Nick Johnson. “Well, I’ll be jiggered!” gasped Tom. “We meet them at every turn.” “I wonder how they got here so soon after we met them?” asked Bert. “It’s quite a distance to walk.” “Maybe they took a short cut,” suggested Jack. “Hush! Look what’s going on now,” advised Tom. As they glanced toward where the professor and the hermit had held a conference, they saw the old man transported into one of his fits of rage. He stamped about, and shook his fist at Sam and Nick, occasionally changing by making threatening gestures at Mr. Skeel. “Say, he’s the limit!” murmured Dick. “Listen,” cautioned Tom. “He’s saying something.” “Leave here! Leave here at once!” commanded old Wallace, almost hitting the two lads as he shook his fists at them. “How dare you come on my property? You are after the treasure; are you? Well, you shall never find it! I will locate it! I will make the old mill give up its secret! Be off!” “Wait, wait,” said Mr. Skeel in a calm voice, laying his hand on the hermit’s arm. “Ha! You too are in a plot against me, I believe!” cried the angry hermit. “I am sorry I ever had anything to do with you. Go away!” and he took hold of the professor, and began shoving him away down the path. “One minute,” said Mr. Skeel in soothing tones, much different from the harsh ones he had almost constantly used in his classes at Elmwood Hall. “What is it you object to?” “These lads--what are they doing here? Are they spying on me?” and the aged man pointed at Nick and Sam. “They are my assistants,” said the professor soothingly, and, though he spoke in a low tone, Tom and his chums could hear him. “Without their aid I can not help you,” Mr. Skeel went on, and when the hermit’s back was turned toward him our hidden friends distinctly saw the professor make a signal of caution and of acquiescence toward the two lads, who craftily nodded their understanding. “Your assistants?” asked the hermit. “Yes. If you want me to help you I must have them to help me. I would have told you about them, but I did not get the chance until they came so unexpectedly. Had they known that you objected to their presence they would have remained away. But I assure you that you can trust them.”