"Only be on the lookout for strangers in town," said Ned. "I want to find out who those men were."
"And you'll have quite a job," spoke Bart. "I'm going home. See you at school to-morrow."
"There's one point we forgot to look up," Ned remarked.
"What is it?" inquired Fenn, as he prepared to accompany Bart.
"Those men spoke about someone being in a sanitarium. Do you know of any such place around here?"
"Never has been a sanitarium in this neighborhood," replied Bart. "There's the hospital, but I don't believe they meant that."
"I either," responded Ned. "There's some mystery in it all. Perhaps we can solve it and help Frank."
Little was talked of at school next morning but the contest between the ball team members and the Upside Down Club. The story was told over again, with all sorts of embellishments, and there were any number of versions; from one that Ned had escaped by leaping from the roof, to another that his friends had descended on the building and torn it apart to get him out.
As a matter of fact the victory of the Upside Down society was only a partial one, as Ned had been able to go to the dinner before it was more than half over. The first-year lads had hoped to keep Ned a prisoner until the affair was at an end, but, it developed, there was a misunderstanding in the plans of the conspirators, and those boys who were supposed to be left to guard the prisoner, went away, giving Ned a chance to escape. But the contest with the older students gave the first-years chance enough to crow, and they lost no opportunity to do so.
"What'll we do to pay 'em back?" asked Ned of Bart at the noon recess. "They're making all sorts of fun of us."