"Gone?" exclaimed the two boys in chorus.
"It can't be possible."
"Two of them are. They have broken away, I think. It must have happened late last night, for I looked at them just before going to bed, and they were all asleep then."
"Whi—which ponies—which ones are gone?" asked Walter apprehensively.
"Chunky's and Tad's."
"Is it possible?" sputtered the Professor, striding to the place where their stock had been tethered.
"Yes, they've broken away," he decided, observing that a piece of stake rope belonging to each had been broken short off. "Look around, boys. They cannot be far away. Probably got hungry and concluded to look for some tender bushes to browse on."
The boys, thus encouraged, hastened to begin their search for the missing stock.
"They went this way," shouted Ned.
All hands hurried to him.