at when he hears that I am here. He will not think that
he can get back quickly enough."

Mrs. Steiner locked the hall door and they hurried away, taking the
shortest way to the two depots. It was not likely that one spy at the
one and the three at the other would miss seeing the runaway,
especially as he would be accompanied by his four-footed traveling
companion, and would perhaps be the only boy in the crowd with a dog.

"Fritz will have to travel in a freight car," remarked Paul as the three
neared the depot; "the guard will not allow Pixy in a passenger car, and
Fritz will not let his dog go in there alone."

"Oh, Paul, you should have mentioned this before! Brother Fritz will
never think of it, and the boy will be stowed in a freight car without
his father finding him, and we here, not knowing whether or not he is in
Frankfort."

"Mr. Heil will think of it, I am sure," said Franz, "for Fritz wrote
a letter home on Thursday, and in it he told them about Pixy and the
chickens."

"We can only hope so," sighed Mrs. Steiner, "and when we reach the
depot, you, Paul, can watch the freight cars, Franz can watch the
passenger cars, and I will go first into the waiting-rooms to see if he
is there. Then we can all watch the crowd upon the platform and see if
Fritz is among them."

This program was followed, but Fritz and his dog were not to be seen,
and they could only hope that Mr. Heil would be more successful.

"But I will not see him until we get home," said Mrs. Steiner, "so will
send a telegram to Fritz's mother, telling her that the boy set out for
home about noon, and when he arrives there, she would please send me a
telegram to that effect, as I am extremely anxious about him."

No sooner thought of than done. She hurried into the office, gave her
message to the operator who made quite a reduction in the number of
words, thus lessening the expense, and then the three would have set out
for home had not Paul made a study of the schedule and found that the
train which Mr. Heil had gone to watch would not leave for fifteen
minutes.

"Oh, I am glad of that!" exclaimed Mrs. Steiner. "We can board an
electric car and get there in time to tell Brother Fritz about the
freight car, and you boys can help watch for the boy."

The car came, and they lost no time in boarding it, and Paul and Franz
enjoyed the swift run through the streets.

But Mrs. Steiner was far from enjoying it. The car had to halt at so
many c