When the young man was gone Mrs. Ruthven and Marion had Old Ben and the others make another search for Jack, and this hunt lasted far into the night.
But it was of no avail; our hero had disappeared as utterly as if the earth had opened and swallowed him.
"Mamma, do you think it possible that the Yankees captured him?" was the question Marion put.
"Not unless Jack left home during the night, Marion. And what would cause him to leave without telling us that he was going?"
"That is true. Jack wouldn't do anything to cause us anxiety."
"It is a great mystery," sighed Mrs. Ruthven.
Later a negro, living on the mountain side, came down to the plantation and asked to see the lady of the house.
"I was t'inkin' yo' would be wantin' ter know wot became o' Master Jack," said the colored man, who rejoiced in the name of Columbus Washington.
"What do you know of him?" asked Mrs. Ruthven quickly.
"I seed him early dis mornin', missus—away up in the mountains."