“Micky!” he repeated, this time a little louder. “Where the dickens are you?”
Still no answer came, and the boy turned away with a muttered exclamation of irritation. “He must have gone back to the others,” he thought. “Funny thing for him to do, but of course that’s it.”
Hastily circling the house, he groped his way to the point as nearly as he could find it where Ritter and Ferris had left the path. A backward glance showed him the dim light still burning in the corner room, and he called the boys’ names in a guarded but penetrating whisper. The response was instant, and in a moment they stood beside him.
“Is Micky here?” asked Cavanaugh quickly. “Why, no,” returned Ferris. “Isn’t he with you? I thought—”
“You haven’t seen him, then?”
“Not since you two went off together.”
Cavvy stood silent for a moment, fighting back the vague, yet persistent feeling of alarm which was stealing over him. There must be some simple explanation for McBride’s disappearance, but what was it? At any rate this new development upset all his calculations. He had planned to hasten back at once to Wharton and report his discovery so that authorities might lose no time in coming out to capture the wireless spy. But that was impossible now. No matter what lay in the balance, he could not bring himself to leave this desolate place without finding out what had happened to his friend. He tried to think, but all the time that nagging sense of anxiety and misgiving grew stronger. Suddenly his jaw squared and his chin went up.
“Listen, fellows,” he said abruptly. “You two will have to go back to town and bring help. I don’t know what the dickens has happened to Micky. He just seems to have disappeared. I left him by the back door while I climbed the tree, and when I came down he was gone. He may have slipped off to take a snoop around the house, but we can’t all go and leave him, especially since there is a wireless up that tree, and you know what kind of men would be running a thing like that these days. So I’ll stay here and look around, and you hustle back as quick as you can and get hold of somebody to come out here. You needn’t go all the way to town if you can dig up two or three men at any of the farms along the road. But they’ve got to be men you can depend on. Get me?”
“Y-y-yes,” stammered Ritter, his teeth chattering audible. “B-b-but what about you?”
“Don’t worry about me; I’ll be all right. Now hustle; and for Pete’s sake don’t lose any time!”