Free Trolley to Yesterday by John Bellairs Page A

by the Venetians.
    "How did you ever wind up posing as a Venetian admiral?" asked the professor as he sipped wine from a bronze cup.
    Mr. Townsend smiled smugly. "That," he said quietly, "was the result of an amazing piece of good luck. You see, when I came here, I was dressed as a monk, like you. So, after the Time Trolley had gone, I flagged down a fishing boat, and the men took me to a monastery near Rhegium, which is not far from here. Then, just the other day, this galley stopped in the harbor of Rhegium, and its commander was brought to our monastery on a stretcher. He had been badly wounded in battle, and it was clear that he was dying. While our monks were trying to save his live, I had a wonderful idea. The admiral was about my size, so I took his clothes and official documents, and I went to the ship and pretended to be a replacement for their leader. I made up some silly story about how I had ridden overland from Constantinople. I'm not sure if the men believed me, but they were glad to be at sea again. Then—"
    "Wait just a minute," said the professor, jabbing a finger at Townsend. "Why did you want to leave the monastery? Did you decide that it would be better to die in battle than to die of boredom in Rhegium?"
    Mr. Townsend laughed and shook his head. "Good gracious, no!" he exclaimed. "I had to get on this ship because I knew that the Time Trolley was coming."
    Mr. Townsend undid the drawstring of a leather bag that hung on his belt. Plunging his hand into the bag, he pulled out a brass pipe tamper. It looked just like the one that the professor used to pierce the veil and let them into Leander's Tower. But there was one difference. This brass tamper was vibrating, and it kept changing color, from red to orange to green to violet and back again to red.
    "This tamper is a bit fancier than the one you have," Mr. Townsend explained as he turned it back and forth between his finger and thumb. "It has a built-in alarm system that is supposed to warn me when the Time Trolley is near. I made it so that I could find my way back to the trolley if I got lost and couldn't remember where I had left it. Well, every day since the day I was stranded I have taken the tamper out of its bag, and I have prayed that someone would bring the bucket of bolts back to Leander's Tower. And now you folks are here. Once we have gotten rid of the Turkish galley, we will sail to Leander's Tower and take the trolley home—if it's still there."
    Johnny felt suddenly queasy, and he glanced nervously at the professor. What on earth would they do if the trolley had gone without them?
    The professor was confident. He brushed a speck of dirt off his robe and took a drink of wine. "I really wouldn't worry, Mr. Townsend," he said calmly as he set his goblet down on the table. "What happened to you was probably an exception... perhaps you didn't handle the controls of the trolley properly. I have made half a dozen trips in your machine, and it has always performed well for me. Of course, on this last trip it missed the date that I set it for, but I'm sure that the problem could be corrected if I fooled around with a screwdriver."
    Mr. Townsend glared at the professor. He had built the Time Trolley, and he did not like to have this cranky little man telling him that he knew more about the machine than the inventor. But he restrained his anger, shoved his chair back, and stood up. "I have to go out on deck," he said, bowing stiffly.
    He swept his red cloak about him, straightened the beret on his head, and marched out the door of the cabin. When the door had closed behind him, Johnny glanced quickly at Fergie, and he heaved a little sigh of relief. He was glad that the professor and Mr. Townsend had not argued, because he did not want anything to interfere with their trip home. There was a dull pain in his arm, and he wanted Gramma or Doc Schermerhorn to look at his cut and see if it was going to be all right. The sooner they were back in