The Mystery of Wandering Caveman - M. V. Carey [26]
Arthritis, eh? Why wouldn’t that be an allergic reaction? And cancer? There’s a virus theory of cancer. Why not an allergy theory? Cancer consists of cells growing out of control, possibly in response to something harmful. And crime!”
“Crime?” echoed Pete.
“Crime can be a reaction to a threat,” said Dr. Hoffer. “Imagine a person growing up in a dangerous place. To protect himself, the person develops a reaction to the approach of any stranger — a violent reaction. Without even thinking, he will attack before he can be attacked. The defences have run wild.”
Dr. Hoffer looked grim. “The defence system is our greatest asset, and our greatest threat too. I have rats in the laboratory that live sealed behind glass partitions, protected from infection. I have been able to short-circuit their immune systems, and they will live much longer than unprotected rats. Of course, they are especially open to disease because they have no defences. But if I could learn to modify their reactions, to regulate their immunities, they could exist outside the glass cages and still avoid many of the ills that kill their fellows.
“Now imagine what controlled immunities could mean to humans. Think of a world without all those terrible diseases!”
Hoffer nodded. “Worth any effort!” he said. “What Birkensteen was doing with intelligence was completely visionary, and probably dangerous as well. And Brandon is a child playing with dusty bones. What I am doing is practical, and it could have tremendous impact almost immediately.”
They had reached the field behind the McAfee house. Hoffer paused to shake hands with the boys. Then he went on to the road and up the hill towards the foundation.
There was a stunned silence as he left. Then Pete said, “Okay. I’m convinced. I nominate Dr. Hoffer for the million dollars from the Spicer Grant.”
Jupe just nodded, and the boys went on down the street to the cafe.
The crowd in the town was thinning out now, and there was no long wait for a table. The boys ate an early dinner, talking quietly among themselves about the events of the day.
“A weird case,” was Pete’s conclusion. “Really squirrelly. The whole town falls over in a dead sleep, and a cave man takes a stroll.”
“And we have the cave man’s footprint, if that’s who it was,” said Jupe. “What can we learn from it? What would you think of showing it to Dr. Brandon? He’s used to deducing things from clues like a bit of bone or a footprint preserved in mud. If there could be a connection between the footprint on the meadow and the cave man, he would recognize it instantly.”
“Jupe, it couldn’t be the cave man,” said Bob.
“Perhaps not, but there was a barefooted person on the meadow, and John the Gypsy swears he saw a cave man, and Dr. Brandon certainly would be interested to know that, wouldn’t he?”
“Okay,” said Bob. “I guess it’s worth a try.”
The boys finished their meal and hurried up the street to the barn, where they took the cast of the footprint from Jupe’s sleeping bag. Then they went on to the Spicer Foundation. They found James Brandon in his workroom.
Brandon was sitting at a desk strewn with papers and books. He glared at the Three Investigators when they came in. The boys almost feared that he was about to fly into one of his shouting rages. However, once he closed the book he was reading, they could see that he was not really angry, just deeply involved with what he was doing.
“Well?” he said. “What is it?”
“We want some advice,” said Jupiter, “and perhaps some information. Dr.
Brandon, we have been staying in the loft in Newt McAfee’s barn, and we can see the museum from the window there. Last night, very late, there was a disturbance there.”
Jupe went on to tell of John the Gypsy’s strange experience and of finding the footprint on the meadow. Then he showed the cast of the footprint to Brandon.
“Of course, it is impossible to believe that the cave man walked in the meadow,”
said Jupiter. “But someone did, and you are accustomed to deducing facts about a person with far