“But the boy may not know the person who hired him. All the Hilltop boys are not known in Riverton and it is not positive that one of the boys of the Academy hired him. It may have been a third party.”
The three boys now left the room, leaving Percival alone and not seeing him until supper time.
Later, Jack went to his friend’s room to learn if anything had been heard from the editor.
“I have not been able to get him yet,” reported Dick, “but I will try again later.”
Up to the time of the boy’s retiring for the night, however, nothing had been heard from Brooke and the boys were as much in the dark as ever.
In the morning Dick went in the runabout and got the bundle of papers from Brooke.
“Well, did you find out who hired the boy to put in that outrageous article?” the young fellow asked.
“No, I did not,” said Brooke. “He said he did not know the young man and could not tell him again if he saw him.”
“Where is he now, the boy I mean?”
“I don’t know. He did not come to work this morning and his mother says he has gone up the river to take a job somewhere else.”