Browning began by shouting Frank's name, to which cry there was no answer. The rising wind rattled a loose window.

It did not take them long to go through the house, to which there was no cellar, and they found nothing to indicate that a human being had entered the place for months.

As they stood outside, after getting out of the window and closing it behind them, they looked at each other in a helpless manner.

"What has become of him?" asked Bart, huskily.

"That is what I would like to know," confessed Bruce. "He seems to have disappeared completely."

"And the man in gray——"

"Is gone, too."

"Browning, I am afraid Merry was lured into some sort of a trap."

"So am I."

"Why should they take him in particular, and not harm any of the rest of us?"