"Ah--pity! Great pity! I rather counted upon that monstrosity to solve our difficulty. However, Jim is missing!" And he tapped his snuff-box thoughtfully. "And what do you infer from that, Mr. Eager?"
"I'm afraid he may have gone off into the sand-hills and possibly got hurt. We've been down to Seth Rimmer's----"
"Ah--Rimmer! That was, if I remember rightly, the young dolt who bungled the matter so sadly last time. Well?"
"He has not been there. Jack was reading in the kitchen----"
"Jack? Ah--yes. That's the other one."
"And Jim was with him. Jim wandered out, and we cannot find any trace of him."
"Hm! . . . Ah! . . ." And the grim old head nodded thoughtfully over another pinch of snuff. "Well, I don't really see what we can do to-night, Mr. Eager. If, as you suggest, he is lying hurt somewhere in the sand-hills, it would take an army to find him, even in the daytime. We must wait and see. If we don't find him"--hopefully--"if he is gone for good, I shall feel myself under deepest obligation to him or to whoever is concerned in the matter. It leaves us only one boy to deal with--the wrong one, of course--but still, only one."
"Why the wrong one, sir?"
"If the other has been purposely removed, as is possible, it is, of course, in order to foist upon us the one who has no right to the position. There could be no other reason. You follow me?"
"I follow your reasoning, of course; but at present we have not the slightest reason to suppose he has been purposely removed. He may be lying in the sand-hills unable to get home."