"That is positively false," declared Messmer. "As a matter of fact I said I didn't want to go so far, because Frank seemed to be so frightened. If I had had my own way I should have released him long before the trolley car came along. He was too nervous to stand such fun."
"If the truth is to come out, Gus Plum is the one who proposed tying Bond to the trolley track," said Jardell. "I wasn't going to say a word, but I am not going to stand here and let him throw the blame on Messmer and me, or on Porter and his crowd, or anybody else. I have told the exact truth so far as I am concerned, and I am ready to take any punishment that is coming to me."
After this a long talk followed, and in the end the master of the Hall said he would take up the matter later, when it was learned what had become of Frank Bond. In the meantime, so great was the excitement, the school was dismissed for the day, and those who wished to do so were told that they might go out until sundown in a search for the missing pupil.
"I am certainly going out," said Dave, to Roger and Ben. "I think we ought to do our best to find him, or else find out about him."
"Maybe he jumped into the river and drowned himself," suggested Ben.
"Or fell over some cliff and got killed," added the senator's son. "A fellow so scared as he was might do almost anything. But I agree with Dave, we ought to go out."
The matter was talked over, and in the end Dave, Ben, Roger, and Beggs set off in a little party, taking a lunch with them. In the meantime others went out too, so that the woods known as the North End were alive with boys and men, all searching for the missing student.