The team was soon ready, and the old man rode off with our hero.
Mr. and Mrs. Brackett looked after them, with a look of baffled curiosity.
“What does this mean, Jeremiah?” asked his wife, at last.
“That’s more than I can tell, Lucindy,” returned her husband.
“Seems mighty mysterious to me.”
“So it does.”
“If he’d only have taken Tommy, the dear child would have told us just where he went and what he did.”
“So he would. Maybe that was what he was afraid of.”
“I’ve been thinkin’——”
“Well, what have you been thinkin’, Jeremiah?” asked his wife, impatient at her husband’s pause.