The butler came to life, his correctness vanished and he ran with undignified but practical haste up the front stairs, calling aloud for the younger Mr. Gates. Don opened the front doors as wide as they would go just as Arthur Gates and his wife appeared anxiously in the doorway. Without paying any attention to their frightened inquiries Don ran back to Douglas and Terry.
“Lift him gently,” Don said, and the three boys exerted all their care as they raised the elder Gates from the sled. At that same moment a car stopped at the front gate and the doctor, with Jim and Vench, jumped from the car. Arthur Gates lent a helping hand to the cadets and together they carried the old man up the front stairs and to his luxurious bedroom on the second floor. When they had laid him on the bed the boys quietly withdrew, leaving Gates, his wife and the doctor alone in the room with the injured man, while the agitated butler patrolled the upper hall.
“Do you suppose we had better beat it?” Douglas whispered, after Don had closed the front doors and kicked some loose snow outside.
“No, we’ll stay and see if his condition is serious,” Don replied.
“But his family is none too friendly with us,” Douglas persisted.
“I guess all that will be forgotten in a time like this,” Don answered.
The cadets waited. The house had become quiet after the first flurry of excitement and no one appeared to be downstairs. To Don this state of affairs was gratifying, for he had a plan in mind. Taking care not to seem too curious he edged away from the others, who were looking at some magazines on the table, and in time made his way around the downstairs floor on a tour of inspection, keeping a wary eye about for a possible maid or the upset butler.
He looked into a large room off the library in which the cadets were gathered and found that it was the dining room. From there he moved to the door which opened into a large living room, and he looked carefully at every object on the mantelpiece. There was a small study near that which he looked over, and then the hall and library. He returned to the others when his tour of inspection was over.
“The cup is not downstairs,” he reflected. “I didn’t think it would be in plain sight anywhere, but I wanted to make sure.”
After a considerable delay Arthur Gates came down the central stairs and joined them. His face was pale and he showed signs of anxiety, but his message was a cheering one.