Even the boys now began to feel uneasy. Uncle Moses and all the boys began to rack their brains to find some way of accounting for David's absence. "Did any of you ever hear of his walking in his sleep?" asked, Uncle Moses, in an agitated voice. "No," said Bob, "never. I know he never did such a thing." "He couldn't have taken a walk anywheres," said Uncle Moses, "or he'd been back long ago." "O, yes; he wouldn't have started on a three hours' walk," said Clive. "Perhaps he's tried a donkey ride, and been ran away with, like me," said Bob. "O, no," said Frank, "he isn't fond of riding; he'd never get on the back of any animal, unless he had to." "Did he say anything about--about--?" Uncle Moses hesitated at the question which he was about to ask. "About what, Uncle Moses?" asked Clive. "About--bathing?" asked Uncle Moses, in a faltering voice. "No," said Clive. Uncle Moses drew a long breath. "It would be dreadful dangerous," said he. "But, Uncle Moses," said Clive, "David would never think of such a thing. He might go in if all of us fellows went in too, just for company; but he doesn't care enough about it to go in alone. The fact is, he doesn't care much for any kind of sports. He's too fond of books." Uncle Moses sighed heavily. "I wonder," said Bob, "if any of those Sorrento fellows have been about here, and seen him." At this suggestion every one of them started, and stared at one another. "Sorrento fellers?" repeated Uncle Moses. "Do you think there's any chance?" "O, I don't know," said Bob. "I only thought it might be possible. You see Dave made no end of a row there about that tassel that he took, and you know how we had to run for it. Well, you know Sorrento isn't very far from here, and I just thought that some of the Sorrento people might have seen us come here yesterday. If they did, they might have tried to pay up poor old Dave for what he did out there." "It may be so," said Uncle Moses, with a groan. "The whole population were ravin mad, an we had hard enough work to get away." "Well," said Frank, "it's the only thing that can account for Dave's absence. He may have taken a little stroll this morning, and fallen into the hands of some of those fellows. Perhaps they've been watching all night for the chance. They would watch, not only all night, but a fortnight, for the sake of revenge. There's no people so revengeful as the Italians. Poor Dave! What can we do? I'll go and ask the driver." Saying this, Frank hurried out of the room and down stairs to talk to the driver about it. All the others followed. On suggesting this Sorrento theory to the driver, that worthy shook his head, and thought that there might be something in it. He evidently began to look upon David's absence as something very serious, and his seriousness over it only added to the anxiety of Uncle Moses and the boys.