Like the mill itself the house was fast falling into a state of decay.
It was only a cottage of some four rooms, all on the one floor. The boys passed from one apartment to another until presently they had been over all the territory comprised within those four walls, so far as they could see.
Both Chatz and Lil Artha uttered exclamations that breathed their disappointment.
Because each of them had failed to discover that upon which he had set his mind he failed to see anything else.
Not so Elmer, who carried out the principle which he was forever holding up before the others as a cardinal virtue which should govern a true scout always.
He noted a number of things that the other two might have passed by, simply because they refused to let their minds work outside of a certain groove.
A frown came upon Elmer's face also, as though he did not wholly like the looks of things.
"Well, he ain't here, that's sure," remarked Lil Artha, shrugging his shoulders in disgust.
"He certainly isn't," muttered Chatz, who, however, was thinking of an entirely different object than the one the tall boy referred to.
"Suppose we give him a shout, and see if there's any result?" suggested Lil Artha.