Page:Dave Porter in the Far North.djvu/172

148 "Humph! I haven't got to tell you anything If I don't want to."

"Yes, you have got to!" cried Dave. A dangerous gleam came Into his eyes. "Out with it at once. Where is my father?"

"See here, Porter, I don't propose to be bullied. I"

"You answer my question, Nick Jasniff. If you don't I'll call in an officer at once and have you placed under arrest."

"You can't do it."

"I can and will. If I can't have you held on one charge I'll have you held on another. I want the truth from you, and I want it right away."

Dave had followed Nick Jasniff to a window, and faced the runaway with such sternness and determination that the latter cowed before him.

"I—er—that is, your father went north, last week."

"Where to?"

"He said he was going to Christiania, Norway."

"Christiania, Norway?" repeated Dave. He knew there was such a place, but that was all. "What for?"

"Oh, he was interested in an expedition that was going to the upper interior—some kind of a scientific expedition, I think. He was full of it—said they hoped to make all kinds of discoveries."

"Whose expedition was it?"