While neither Serepta nor young Oliver could be positive, they were of the opinion that Mr. Baxter wore his every-day business suit on the evening of his disappearance. Of this, however, they could not be sure. An inspection of his closet the following morning led to a puzzling discovery. A comparatively new suit of a dark gray material—rather too heavy for summer wear—was missing, while the wrinkled, well-worn garments that he wore daily at the store were found hanging in the closet alongside his venerable “Prince Albert.” Mrs. Grimes was confident that he had on his old clothes at supper time; Oliver October had not noticed what he was wearing. In the event that Mrs. Grimes was right—and she couldn’t take oath on it—Mr. Baxter must have returned to the house and changed his clothes after parting from his son. There was no one at home. Lizzie, the most recent maid-of-all-work, was at the “movies,” and Mrs. Grimes was “sitting up” with Abel Conroy. The excitement in Rumley was intense. The Baxter home became a magnet that drew practically the entire population of the town to that section, and there was not an hour of the day that did not see scores of people trudging through the safer portions of the swamp or tramping along the uplands that bordered it. Small children, accompanied by their parents, stared wide-eyed and frightened across the loathesome tract, and listened to solemn warnings which generally began with “poor old Mr. Baxter wandered out there and that was the last of him.” Venturesome young men approached a few of the “holes,” sounded them with poles and saplings, and came away shaking their heads. Three or four days passed before towns far and near began to report that old men answering the description sent out by the Chief of Police in Rumley were being detained or kept under surveillance, pending the arrival of some one who could identify them as Mr. Baxter. Oliver October, Sammy Parr and other citizens sped in haste to these towns, only to meet with disappointment. Finally the tenth day came and the nine days of wonder were over. People began to think and talk about something besides the Baxter mystery. Detectives from Chicago, brought down by Oliver October, agreed with the young man that his father had “skipped out,” to use the rather undignified expression of Mr. Michael O’Rourke. It was Mr. O’Rourke who advanced the theory that the old man had taken this amazing means of forcing his son to remain in Rumley. “Why,” said he, “it’s as plain as the nose on your face. He is dead set on having you stick to this town. He chews it over with you for weeks. You say ‘nix.’ Nothing doing. Well, what’s the smartest thing he can do? What’s the surest way for him to bring you to time? He’s as slick as grease, your father is. Out of his head? Not on your life. He’s an old fox. Do you get me? The only way to make you stay in this town is for him to leave it.