you think
it is in connection with Mr. David?"

"Not altogether, I am quite certain. There is something else on her
mind. She might explain to you what it is when she would tell no one
else."

They had just reached the gate leading to the Haven when Andy Forbes,
accompanied by several men, swung up the road.

"I must leave you now," Jasper told Lois, "and assist in the search."

"Please let us know as soon as you find any trace of Mr. David," Lois
replied. "I shall stay with Betty for a while."

It was quite light now, and as the men walked along the road they
searched most carefully every nook and corner, but all in vain.

"He is not anywhere here," Andy remarked. "But he may have wandered
into the woods along that old winter road. I suggest that we follow it
for a while. He may be wandering about in there. We can comb the
woods if he's not on the road."

The men moved very quietly, keenly alert, each hoping to make the
discovery first. To Jasper there seemed something uncanny about the
way they moved so silently onward at that weird morning hour. A spirit
of depression came upon him, and his companions appeared like enemies.
He felt that in some unaccountable way they believed that he was to
blame for all the trouble, and that he should have taken more care of
the old man.

After they had gone some distance along the old road and had found
nothing, they stopped and held a consultation as to what they should do.

"Suppose we divide up and search through the woods," Jasper suggested.
"Andy, you and Dave come with me, and we'll work back on this side of
the road, while the rest of the men do the same on the other."

Acting upon this suggestion, they at once plunged into the woods and
took up their positions several rods from one another. Jasper was
nearest the road. Next to him was Dave, while Andy was farthest off.
Walking abreast among the trees, they were thus enabled to examine
every portion of the ground. In a way it seemed almost a hopeless
task, but there was nothing else for them to do. They knew that other
men would be scouring up and down the main road, as well as through the
fields, and in fact every place where David might have strayed.

They had been thus searching for some time and were not far from the
main highway, when they heard loud shouting from the men on the other
side of the old wood-road. Feeling sure that they were needed, the
three men hurried forward in the direction