"You're allers tryin' to make out that he's at the bottom of everything that goes wrong," Skip's father, who entered at this moment, said in a surly tone.
"If he ain't, it's not for lack of willingness. Do you know where he is?"
"Home, where he's been for an hour or more."
Donovan looked hard at the speaker, and Miller retorted:
"If you don't believe me, it won't take long to find out for yourself."
"That's exactly what I'm going to do. Mrs. Byram, I will see you again in less than an hour."
With these words the breaker boss left the store, and Fred's mother walked slowly home, the anxiety in her heart growing more intense each moment.
Two hours passed before Donovan returned and announced his inability to find the missing boy.
"I did think Skip might have had a hand in it," he said; "but I reckon he's innocent this time. I found him near his own home with a crowd of cronies, and according to all accounts he's been there since supper."
"But what has become of Fred?" Mrs. Byram asked, preserving a semblance of calmness only after the greatest difficulty.