We must meet as strangers hereafter."
"Very well," and Professor Beecher's voice was
as cold and uncompromising as was his rival's.
"Let it be as your wish. But I must say I don't
know what you mean by unsportsmanlike conduct."
"An explanation would be wasted on you,"
said Professor Bumper stiffly. "But in order that
you may know I fully understand what you did
I will say that your efforts to thwart us through
your tool Jacinto came to nothing. We are here
ahead of you."
"Jacinto!" cried Professor Beecher in real or
simulated surprise. "Why, he was not my `tool,'
as you term it."
"Your denial is useless in the light of his
confession," asserted Professor Bumper.
"Confession?"
"Now look here!" exclaimed the older
professor, "I do not propose to lower myself by
quarreling with you. I know certainly what
you and your party tried to do to prevent us
from getting here. But we got out of the trap
you set for us, and we are on the ground first.
I recognize your right to make explorations as
well as ourselves, and I presume you have not
fallen so low that you will not recognize the
unwritten law in a case of this kind--the law
which says the right of discovery belongs to the
one who first makes it."
"I shall certainly abide by such conduct as
is usual under the circumstances," said
Professor Beecher more stiffly than before.
"At the same time I must deny having set a trap.
And as for Jacinto----"
"It will be useless to discuss it further!"
broke in Professor Bumper.
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