“Well, Dan,” said Mark, as he and his cousin came upon their handy man, “did you give the poor old fellow the soup?”
“No, sir.”
“What! Then why didn’t you?”
“Couldn’t find him, sir.”
“Didn’t you go up to the old cavern?”
“Yes, sir. I went right in to where there was that snug sort of place where Bob Bacon found he had been lying—where we left him, sir.”
“Well, do you mean to say he wasn’t there?”
“No, sir; that he wasn’t.”
“Oh, how could you be so stupid! The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon.”
“Well, that’s right, sir.”