“It isn’t so!” cried the other quickly. “I’m not a bit scared! And I don’t want you to talk to me that way, Ben Basswood!”
“We were only going to ask you about Dave,” went on Roger. “He is still missing, and I wanted to know if you had heard anything at all of him.”
“Not a thing.” Nat’s face began to show greater alarm. “I want you fellows to leave me alone! You act just as if you thought I had something to do with Dave Porter’s disappearance.”
“Perhaps you did have something to do with it!” cried Phil, struck by a sudden idea.
“Has Lieutenant Gebauer seen him?” questioned Roger.
“I don’t know, but—er—I don’t think so,” added Nat falteringly. “Why don’t you ask him and find out for yourself?”
“I will,” said the senator’s son. “Where is he?”
“Humph! don’t ask me.”
Something in Nat’s manner caused his former schoolmates further surprise. Evidently he had something on his mind which he did not wish to have leak out.
“Isn’t Lieutenant Gebauer here?” questioned Ben.