“Disappeared?” repeated Tom Halstead, springing to his feet, electrified by the news. “Don’t you think it more likely, sir, he’s been helped to disappear?”
“You think he may have been spirited away?” demanded Mr. Dunstan. “But why?”
“Haven’t you yourself told us, sir, that it would be worth some one’s trouble, to the extent of nine hundred thousand dollars, to have the boy vanish?” asked Tom breathlessly.
“You suspect my brother?”
“Pardon me, sir, for forgetting that Gregory Dunstan is your brother,” Tom went on whitening. “Yet that talk about disabling the ‘Meteor’! The man who looked like a Spaniard—but the people of Honduras are of Spanish descent. Why should anyone want to disable the ‘Meteor,’ unless to stop a pursuit by water? You yourself have told us that your brother has a weakness for mixing up in revolutions down in Honduras.”
All this Halstead had shot out jerkily, thinking even faster than he spoke.
“But at this very moment Greg is down in Honduras,” objected Mr. Dunstan.
“Even if he is, wouldn’t friends of his, who may want funds for a new revolution, see how easy it was to get the money through getting Ted out of the way?” asked Tom quickly. “Grant that your brother is wholly innocent of any plot about your son. Wouldn’t supposed friends of his perhaps be willing to spirit the boy away, knowing that if the big money prize went to your brother, Gregory Dunstan could afterwards be persuaded to throw his fortune into some new revolutionary cause?”
“Yes, yes, it’s all possible—horribly possible,” admitted Mr. Dunstan, covering his face with his hands. “And Greg, who is a citizen of Honduras now, has even had aspirations in the way of becoming president of Honduras. Halstead, I will admit that I had even thought of the possibility of some just such attempt as this, and yet in broad daylight I dismissed it all as idle dreaming. And now Ted’s gone—heaven only knows what has become of him!”
“Of course,” put in Joe coolly, “it may turn out that the youngster just went fishing. He may walk in any moment for his supper.”