The letter from Dunston Porter was also interesting, but one paragraph made Dave's heart sink. In this Mr. Porter stated that as yet no word of any kind had been received about Dave's father and sister.
"It certainly is queer you don't hear from them," said Roger, when he learned of this. "If they are in Europe or in America at least one of your letters must have followed them up."
"It's a mystery to me," answered Dave, and heaved a long sigh. He was more than impatient to meet his father and sister, and who can blame him?
The two bicycles belonging to Dave and Babcock had been brought in by a farmer of that vicinity, who had found them near the fallen tree. This man was rewarded for his trouble, and Dave, Roger, and Babcock went to the spot hoping to find some clew to the mystery. They saw that the tree was decayed near the roots but that it had undoubtedly been broken off by force.
"It was surely the work of some enemies," said Dave. "The question is, Who is guilty?"
"Perhaps we'll learn some day," answered the senator's son; and there, for the time being, the subject was dropped.
As my old readers know there was a secret society at Oak Hall known as the Gee Eyes, this mysterious appellation standing for the initials, G. I., which in their turn stood for the words, Guess It. This society had its officers and its secret password, and met "semi-occasionally or oftener" as the by-laws had it. It was gotten up mostly for fun,—the said fun being largely due to the initiation of new members. Dave had joined and so had his chums, and they had aided in initiating a number of others.
For various reasons Plum, Poole, and Jasniff were out of this society. When Jasniff had wanted to join—as a newcomer to the Hall—he had been rejected with scant ceremony. This had angered him, and as a consequence he and his cronies, along with several other students, had organized a new society, called the D. D. A. Club, the initials standing for Dare Do Anything. This was supposed to meet once a month, and all sorts of inducements were offered to get the other students to join.
"I hear the Gee Eyes are going to meet soon," said Nat Poole, one day to his cronies. "Ain't it about time the D. D. A. met too?"
"Have you found a new member?" asked Jasniff.