“The youngster will be all right in a week or ten days,” he said. “All he wants is rest and good living.”

“How soon will he be able to travel?”

“In a week, at the outside.”

During this week Robert’s attention was drawn to the following paragraph in a copy of the Dexter Times, a small weekly paper, which he found in the reading room of the hotel:

“A DESPERATE YOUNG RUFFIAN.—We understand that a young boy

in the service of Mr. Nathan Badger, one of our most

respected citizens, has disappeared under very extraordinary

circumstances. The evening previous to his departure he made

an unprovoked attack upon Mr. and Mrs. Badger, actually

throwing Mr. Badger downstairs and firing a pistol at Mrs.