Presently they came in sight of Hope, just as the girls were coming from their afternoon classes. They espied Nellie and Grace, and beckoned to them. Both came forward on a run.
"What is the news, Sam?" asked Nellie, quickly.
"It's not very good, Nellie," he said, kindly. "Tom has run away."
"Run away!" gasped the girl, and turned pale. "Oh, you don't mean it!"
"Where did he go to?" questioned Grace.
"To Chicago."
"And from there, so he told a train conductor, he was going to Seattle and then to Alaska," said Songbird. "Sam and Dick are going after him, just as soon as they can."
"To Alaska! Tom has gone to Alaska!" murmured Nellie, and then she turned and swayed, and the next moment fainted in Sam's arms.