"'Tis so. The other wan—Theresa—was here asking for her before noon-time," the cobbler added.
Neale waited for nothing further—not even to read his letter, which he slipped into his pocket; but hurried over the back fence into the rear premises of the Corner House.
By this time the entire neighborhood was aroused. Luke had called up the police station and given a description of Sammy and Dot. The telephone had been busy most of the time after he and Ruth had returned from their unsuccessful visit to the canal.
Agnes, red-eyed from weeping, ran at Neale when she saw him coming.
"Oh, Neale O'Neil! Why weren't you here! Get out the auto at once! Let us go and find them. I know they have been carried off—"
"Who's carried them, Aggie?" he demanded. "Brace up. Let's hear all the particulars of this kidnapping."
"Oh, you can laugh. Don't you dare laugh!" expostulated Agnes, quite beside herself, and scarcely knowing what she said. "But somebody must certainly have stolen Dot."
"That might be," confessed Neale. "But who in the world would want to steal Sammy? I can't imagine anybody wanting a youngster like him."
"Do be serious if you can, Neale," admonished Ruth, who had likewise been weeping, but was critical of the ex-circus boy as usual.