nt over to a little desk, where she sat fingering
her checkbook.

"Now please give me some idea of what such uniforms cost. I want to do
it nicely for you boys. Excuse me just a moment, though."

Mrs. Dexter touched a bell on her desk and the housekeeper entered.

"Jane, when I put Myra to bed this evening, she showed signs of a cough.
I don't want the child to get croupy and not know anything about it.
Just run up and watch Myra, won't you, without waking her? Then come
down and let me know, after a few minutes."

The housekeeper started upstairs. Mrs. Dexter returned to the subject of
football uniforms, while the three boys, red-faced and reluctant,
answered her questions. They appreciated her kindness, but they did not
want her to pay for the uniforms. To Dick and his chums it looked too
much like begging.

A shriek sounded upstairs. Then Jane came rushing down.

"Oh, ma'am!" she cried in dismay. "Myra's gone--her bed's empty, and the
clothes that she wore have been taken from the chair!"

While Mrs. Dexter turned deathly pale and tottered, Dick Prescott leaped
up, exclaiming:

"It's the work of Dexter. That's the scheme he had!"

CHAPTER VI

ON THE TRAIL OF THE CAB

"The wretch has stolen Myra! I didn't I think he would dare do that,"
cried the woman.

Mrs. Dexter had never made any effort to secure a divorce from her
worthless husband. After he had abandoned her she had appeared in court
and had had herself appointed sole guardian and custodian of little
Myra. Under the law, therefore, Dexter, if he stole Myra away from the
mother, could be arrested and punished for abduction.

At this frantic moment, however, Mrs. Dexter was not thinking of
punishments. All she wanted was to get her child back in her own
keeping.

"Isn't it possible there's a mistake?" demanded Greg of the dismayed
housekeeper. "The little one may have gotten up out of bed. She may be
in some other part of the house."

"Not much!" interjected the housekeeper. "The child's jacket and coat
are gone from a hook near by."

After the first moment of fright Mrs. Dexter had raced upstairs; now she
came down again.

"Myra's really gone," she cried, sobbing. "And no one but Dexter would
think of stealing her from me. He has done it for spite--or as the means
of extorting more money from me."

"A man could hardly go through the streets carrying a child that didn't
want to be carried. The child could cry out and attract attent