arson checked himself.

"Bessie?" questioned Frank.

"I mean Lizette," Berlin hastened to say. "My thoughts are all in a
jumble. Don't mind me if I get mixed up. I'm all right now, Merry."

"If you need a doctor----"

"I don't. You've done everything a doctor could do."

"Then if you're all right, I think I'll go out and look around for
Hodge."

Carson rose to his feet a trifle unsteadily.

"I'm going with you," he declared.

"You'd better not," Merry advised.

"I must--I want to."

"You're still weak."

"Oh, no; I'm strong enough. Just see, Frank, I can walk all right."

"Come on, then," said Merriwell.

All around the grounds they searched, finally finding Hodge, who stated
that he had seen no trace of any one.

"The rascal made good his escape," said Frank. "I'll notify the sheriff
first thing in the morning. A while ago there were some burglaries in
surrounding towns. Perhaps the crooks have decided to operate in
Bloomfield."

"And it was natural they should pick out your house first, Merry," said
Carson.

They turned toward the house and paused again beneath the very tree
where Berlin had stood when he heard the mingled voices of Lizette and
the unknown man. As Frank and Hodge were talking, Carson turned away and
walked a short distance toward the house. Stepping out from beneath the
trees, he looked up.

In an open upper window a face appeared, distinctly shown by the
moonlight.

It was Lizette.

He gazed up at her, and she looked down at him. Then she leaned forth
from the window, lifted one hand and pressed a finger to her lips.

He understood the signal and nodded.

She vanished, and he saw her no more that night.

CHAPTER XV.

KIDNAPED!

The following day Lizette seemed strangely overcome--almost
prostrated--by what she claimed she had beheld from her window the
previous night. Professing that she was quite ill, she kept to her room
a great deal, permitting Maggie to care for the baby.

Carson was restless and nervous, and in his face his friends observed a
strange look of eagerness, which at times gave place to an expression of
triumph or of doubt. His injury proved to be comparatively slight.

Frank reported the presence of the prowler and the attack on Carson to
the local authorities.

Somehow an atmosphere of unrest and uncertainty, a sensation of
expectation in the face of some unforeseen calamity, seemed to hover
over Merry Home.

It was nearly mid-afternoo