For a short while there was silence. Nuthin’ grinned and remarked, “What you want us to do, Paul, is for us to become detectives.”
Nuthin’ meant it as a joke but Paul took it seriously. “That is just what I want you to do,” he asserted gravely. “We must all become detectives and find this man.”
“But the information we have is so slight. We really have no clues to work on,” protested Bobolink.
“That is very true,” replied Paul, “but we must do the best we can.”
A little later, the meeting was officially adjourned, but no boy ventured to leave. Their curiosity was aroused by Jack’s not coming to the meeting and they waited around. Paul felt anxious, though he had no reason to be. To Ken, who was sitting beside him, he whispered, “I wonder what happened to Jack!”
Ken shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t imagine. He promised to be here. And he is not home either.”
“That’s just it,” countered Paul. “The fact that he is not home implied that he was on the way over here. But something must have happened on the way to keep him from coming to the meeting.”
“We can go over and see if he is home now.”
“That is a good idea. Let’s go.”
Ken and Paul rose and the other boys did likewise. In a group they walked over to Jack’s house. Ken went in while all the others remained outside. A minute later he emerged and motioned that the missing boy was not home. The boys were disappointed and a few of them became worried. Bobolink commented, “This is becoming serious. We ought to look for him.”