telling where he has gone; and even if you knew, in this awful storm
it would be next to impossible to follow him."

All went below, and there they continued to discuss the situation. In
the midst of the talk the girls came down, accompanied by Dr. Renwick
and his wife.

"Oh, Dave! you don't mean to tell me that that horrid Ward Porton has
been at more of his tricks!" cried Laura.

"Isn't it perfectly dreadful!" put in Jessie. "And to think he was
right in this hotel with us and we never knew it!"

"That's what makes me so angry," announced Dave. "If only I had
clapped my eyes on him!" he added regretfully.

"Well, there's no use of crying over spilt milk," declared Roger. "He
is gone, and so are Dave's overcoat and his cap, and that is all there
is to it."

"Speaking of milk puts me in mind of breakfast," put in Phil. "Now
that the others are downstairs don't you think we had better have
something to eat?"

All were agreeable, and soon they were seated at a large table in the
dining room, in company with the doctor and Mrs. Renwick. Here, while
eating their breakfast, they discussed the situation from every
possible standpoint, but without arriving at any satisfactory
conclusion.

"Porton must have seen us when we came up to the rooms," said Dave to
his chums. "He probably heard me speak about leaving my cap and
overcoat downstairs, and he just took a fiendish delight in walking
off with them and leaving his old duds behind. Oh, he certainly is a
peach!"

Had there been the slightest let-up in the blizzard, Dave and his
chums would have gone out on a hunt around the town for Porton and his
unknown companion. But with the wind blowing almost a hurricane, and
the snow coming down as thickly as ever, Dr. Renwick told them that
they had better remain indoors.

"It isn't likely that they stayed anywhere around here, fearing
detection," said the physician. "They probably put a good distance
between themselves and this hotel. And to go out in such a storm as
this might make some of you sick."

"Oh, well, what of that? We have a doctor handy," answered Dave,
whimsically. "Just the same, I guess we had better remain where we
are," he added, with a deep sigh.

It was not until the following morning that the wind died down and the
snow ceased to fall. In the meantime, the young folks did what they
could to entertain themselves, the girls playing on the piano in the
hotel parlor, and the boys later on taking the