"Beg your pardon, sir; child lost, sir."
They all started up. "Whose child?" asked the Captain.
"James Grewer's child, sir, at the wattle hut."
"Oh!" said Alice, turning to Sam, "it is that pretty little boy up the river that we were admiring so last week."
"When was he lost?" asked Major Buckley.
"Two days now, sir," said the lad.
"But the hut is on the plain side of the river," said the Major; "he can't be lost on the plains."
"The river is very low, sir," said the lad; "hardly ancle deep just there. He may have crossed."
"The black fellows may have found him," suggested Mrs. Buckley.
"They would have been here before now to tell us, if they had, I am afraid," said Captain Brentwood. "Let us hope they may have got him; however, we had better start at once. Two of us may search the river between this and the hut, and two may follow it towards the Mayfords'. Sam, you have the best horse; go down to the hut, and see if you can find any trace across the river, on this side, and follow it up to the ranges. Take some one with you, and, by-thebye, take your dog Rover."