“He was working in the river some o’ the time and it’s over his head, lots of places,” piped one small boy in fearful accents.
“Oh, it’s impossible for him to have been drowned,” declared Mr. Porter. “I kept my eyes on the boys in the river all the time they were there.”
Dr. Byrd offered no reply to this assurance. He merely said:
“All you boys go in and get your supper; then go to bed early.”
“Can’t we go with you and hunt for Hal?” pleaded Charley Mason.
“No. I’m not going to run any risk of losing any more of you. Besides, you’ve done enough for one day. I know you’re all tired.”
“No we’re not,” responded several. The fact is, they were well tired from their afternoon’s work, but love for their lost schoolmate had a refreshing effect. But the master of the school would not yield and they were forced to do as he said.
By this time Mr. Frankland had appeared, and as the boys filed into the wash room to prepare for supper, he was informed of the situation that had caused such a commotion.
“We’ve got to go and look for that boy and stick to the hunt until we find him—dead or alive,” almost sobbed the doctor.
“Oh, it can’t be as bad as that,” reassured the hopeful Mr. Frankland. “Hal’s a pretty level-headed boy and will be showing up with an explanation before long. I haven’t known him to get into trouble yet, and nearly every other boy in the school has been in one sort of scrape or another.”