“Very well. Come at once to the office and I will call the doctor.”
A little later found the two youths in the office with Doctor Clay and his head assistant. There, as briefly as he could, Dave told his story, and Roger corroborated what was said. The head of the school was deeply interested and not a little alarmed.
“This is certainly serious,” he declared, with a grave shake of his head. “It reflects not only on you but on this school. I must look into this at once.” And then he asked many questions, and Andrew Dale did the same.
“Running away makes it look bad for Lawrence, Beggs, and Basswood,” remarked Mr. Dale. “They should have stood their ground, as Morr and Porter did.”
“That hotel man and the constable probably scared them so they did not know what they were doing,” returned Doctor Clay. He turned to the boys. “You have no idea where they went?” 183
“No, sir, excepting that they went up the river in the Kingsley motor-boat. They know Tom Kingsley quite well and he lets them use the boat once in a while.”
“Do you think you could find them, if I let you off to do so?”
“We could try, sir.”
“Then you may go at once. Tell them it was very foolish to run away, and urge them to come back at once,” added Doctor Clay.
A little more conversation followed, and then Dave and Roger left the office and started on the search for the runaways.