“No, he has been away all day,” answered his aunt.
“Do you know where he is?” inquired Ben Bence soberly.
“Mr. Trafton wouldn’t tell me. He said he had sent him away on some errand, but I don’t see where he could have gone, to stay so long.”
It was clear Mrs. Trafton knew nothing of the trick which had been played upon her nephew.
“Tell her, Mr. Bence,” said Herbert, turning to his companion.
“Has anything happened to Robert?” asked Mrs. Trafton, turning pale.
They told her how her husband had conveyed Robert to Egg Island and then treacherously left him there, to get off as he might.
“Was there any difficulty between Bob and his uncle?” asked Ben Bence.
“Yes; the boy had a little money which had been given him and my husband ordered him to give it up to him. He’d have done it, if he hadn’t wanted to spend it for me. He was always a considerate boy, and I don’t know what I should have done without him. Mr. Bence, I know it’s a good deal to ask, but I can’t bear to think of Robert staying on the island all night. Would you mind rowing over and bringing him back?”
As yet Mrs. Trafton did not understand that any greater peril menaced her nephew.