And then one morning Morris failed to answer to the roll-call. Never had he been absent since his first day at school, and Miss Bailey was full of uneasiness. Nathan Spiderwitz, Morris's friend and ally, was also missing, but at half-past nine he arrived entirely breathless and shockingly untidy. "Nathan," said Teacher reprovingly, "you are very late." "Yiss ma'an. I tells you 'scuse," gasped Nathan. "On'y Morris--" "Where is he?" cried Miss Bailey. "Is there anything the matter with him?" "Yiss ma'an. He ain't got no more that golden ring what you gives him over that cat." A murmur of commiseration swept through the room. "Oh, poor Morris!" sighed Eva Gonorowsky. "Ain't that fierce! From sure gold rings is awful stylish und they cost whole bunches of money." "Morris is a silly little boy," said Teacher crossly, for she had been frightened, as it now seemed, to no purpose. "I'll measure his finger for a new ring when he comes in." "He ain't comin'," said Nathan briefly. "Not coming to school simply because he lost a ring! Nonsense! Nathan, you just run back to Morris's house and tell him he must come. Tell him I'll give him a new ring and--" "But he ain't to his house," Nathan objected. "I seen how he goes away." "Well, then, how did he go away?" "Teacher, it's like this. Me und Morris we stands by our block when comes the baker's wagon. Und the baker he goes in the groc'ry store to sell bread und his wagon und horse stands by us. Und, say, on the horse's face is something, from leather, so the horse couldn't to eat. He couldn't to open his mouth even. But all times he longs out his neck like he should eat und he looks on me und Morris. So Morris he says: 'Ain't it fierce how that bad man makes mit that horse? Something from leather on the face ain't healthy for horses. I guess I takes it off.'" "But he didn't, Nathan?" "Yiss ma'an, he takes it off. He says like that: 'You know how Teacher says we should make all times what is lovin' mit dogs und cats und horses.' Und say, Teacher, Missis Bailey, that's how you says. He had a ring over it. A from sure gold ring mit his name--" "But the horse?" Miss Bailey interrupted. "The horse with the muzzle. I remember, dear, what I said, but I hope Morris didn't touch that baker's horse." "Sure did he," cried Nathan. "He buttons out that thing what I told you from leather, on the horse's face, und the horse he swallows the golden ring." "Why, I never heard of such a thing," gasped Miss Bailey. And Nathan explained. "Morris, he gives the horse a sweet potato und the horse he swallows the golden ring. He swallows it way, way, WAY down. Und it was from sure gold-" "But it must have been very loose or it wouldn't have come off his finger so easily." "It didn't come off," said Nathan patiently. "The horse he swallowed the finger too--four fingers--und it was from sure gold ring mit his name scratched in on it, what he had off of you, Teacher, for present over that cat."