"Sure! We both came in together, and they grabbed us. But it was Ned they wanted, because he was to be toastmaster. They must have gagged him, as I didn't hear him yell."
"What had we better do?" asked Bart.
"Some of us stay here to look after things and the rest try to get Ned," suggested Fenn.
"They're five to our one," objected Frank.
"That's nothing! We've got to get Ned! They'll have the laugh on us if we don't," said Bart.
There was a hasty consultation and the dinner party was divided into two forces. Some were left on guard, while the others set off on a run after the Upside Down boys.
But the delay had given the assailants the very chance they needed to get a good start. When the pursuers set off across the fields the captors of Ned were out of sight. There was a hasty search for them, but the first year boys had apparently hidden in some place that defied the efforts of the ball crowd to locate it.
"This is a pretty pickle!" exclaimed Bart, as he came to a halt in the middle of the big field that stretched out behind the Masterson barn. "They've beaten us all right enough. I wonder where they could have taken Ned?"
"I guess it's up to us to find out," replied Fenn. "Come on. We haven't half looked yet."
"Maybe that's just what they want us to do," put in Lem Gordon. "They think we'll let the dinner slide."