“Oh, don’t let me disturb you,” said Billy sarcastically. “If you haven’t got your beauty sleep, old sorrel top, go right back to bed. It’s only ten o’clock, and I thought maybe you’d like to take a sunrise swim down in the mill pond.” Clancy cut these remarks short by seizing a pillow and letting fly. Billy was sent back into the corner, and came up grinning. “Where’s Chip?” “Look under the bed,” retorted Clancy. “I just woke up. I suppose he’s dug out for the river himself. There’s no sign of a bathroom around this jay hotel.” “What d’you expect for three dollars a week? There, leave off that white shirt, Clan! We’ll go down to the crick and meet Chip, then come back here and dress.” This program suited Clancy to perfection. On their way down to the street, however, he stopped and asked the clerk whether Chip had left any message for him. “Sure, Mr. Clancy. Said he’d be back before noon.” “Huh? And when was that?” “A little before seven this morning.” “Holy smoke!” cried Clancy. “Before seven! Then Merry’s been gone for three hours, Billy! He isn’t down at the river, you boob!” “Quit calling names,” retorted Billy, a trace of anxiety in his clear eyes. “It didn’t improve your manners to go West, I reckon. Sure, we’ll go down and see, anyhow. He might be asleep in the sun down there.” Clancy asked the clerk if he knew where Merry had gone. The clerk, mindful of Chip’s injunction, said that he “couldn’t say,” and the two friends went off toward the river in helpless wonderment. Billy said nothing, but he was not a little worried. Clancy suspected nothing wrong, though he knew that it was not Chip’s usual custom to disappear without leaving any word of where he had gone. Upon reaching the mill pond they found no sign of Merry. Clancy scoffed at the fears of his friend, so they stripped and took a hasty dip, then dressed and made their way back to the hotel. “If he don’t show up pretty soon,” said Billy, “mother will be all balled up with her chicken dinner, Clan.” “Well, we aren’t going to wait for him,” said Clancy firmly. “I want that chicken dinner, believe me! We’ll give him half an hour, then we’ll load into the _Hornet_ and go up to your house. Maybe he’s there now.” Mrs. McQuade had been requested to prepare an early dinner, as the three friends intended returning to Fardale in the _Hornet_ that afternoon. So promptly at eleven-thirty Clancy got out his car and ordered the reluctant Billy to climb in. Since there was a strong possibility that Merriwell was at the McQuade house, Billy finally obeyed. “Nothing could happen to him,” scoffed Clancy, as they climbed the hill. “He’s off on a walk, that’s all, and probably has gone to sleep on the shady side of a tree.” Mrs. McQuade had seen nothing of Merry, and since her dinner was all ready and waiting, she put aside a generous portion to keep warm for Chip and insisted on Clancy and Billy pitching in at once.