"He must be in hiding in the woods near the cottage." "Perhaps, but he had eight hours in which to get away." "Just so. I will send out an alarm to all of my force, and then Detective Trigger and I will make a personal hunt for the rascal." "When you hunt for him you had better hunt for Dan Baxter, too," said Dick, and he told of the happening on the stage ride. "I will keep an eye open for Baxter, too," said the chief. From the police station Dick rode to the post office, and here wrote and mailed a long letter to his father, relating what had happened and repeating the wording of the letter that had been found. He requested that Alexander Pop be sent up without delay. There was nothing to keep Dick in Cedarville any longer, and he prepared to return to the Stanhope cottage with the mare. But before going he entered the leading drug store, and here purchased a box of choice chocolates for Dora, for he fortunately had his spending money with him, or at least the balance left over from the football celebration. When Dick reached the cottage he found both the washwoman and the carpenter at work, one in the wash-house and the other finishing up the new barn. The money taken from the bank had been turned over to Mr. Gradley, so Mrs. Stanhope no longer had this to worry her. Feeling that he could do little at school for the balance of that day, Dick resolved to hunt through the woods for some trace of Josiah Crabtree, and went off shortly after giving Dora the chocolates, over which the girl was greatly pleased. He followed the road in the direction of the lake at first, and was about to plunge into the brushwood when a distant voice hailed him. "Hullo, Dick, stop! I want to see you." It was Sam calling, and soon his youngest brother came up on a run. "Sam, what brings you?" he asked, for it was easy to see that something out of the ordinary had occurred. "I want to know where Tom is," panted Sam. "Tom?" Dick's face grew pale all in an instant. "Didn't he return to Putnam Hall last night?" "No, and nobody around there has seen him since he went off with you. I thought he was with you, until Dora just told me that he started to return about midnight." "He did. And he didn't return? What can it mean?" "What's the trouble here?" Sam was given the particulars, and uttered a long, low whistle. "That looks black, doesn't it?" "It does, Sam. I don't like it for a cent." "Do you suppose he fell in with Crabtree?" "Perhaps--or with somebody just as bad." "Perhaps he spotted Crabtree and started to follow him." "I shouldn't think he would follow him all this time without letting somebody know." For several minutes the two brothers discussed this new turn of affairs. Both were greatly troubled, and Dick did not know whether to continue his hunt or not. "I wouldn't care if only I knew he was all right," he said.