"I'll do that," the man said. "I'm much obliged to you," and he was about to drive on, when Bert asked:
"Aren't you Mr. Mason, who has a lumber yard near my father's?"
"Whoa!" called the man to his horse. "Yes, I'm Mr. Mason," he went on, "and I have a lumber yard. But I don't seem to know you."
"I'm Bert Bobbsey," the lad said, "and my father—"
"Oh, yes, to be sure! Of course I know you!" the man exclaimed. "Why, you were the boy in the automobile the day my ward, Frank Kennedy, ran away from me."
"Yes, I was there," said Bert.
"Well, it's about Frank that I came on here," said Mr. Mason. "I have been tracing him. I heard he joined a circus when he ran away from me, and I want to find him and take him back. I came on here by train, and hired this horse and carriage to drive about the country. But now, when I am almost up to the circus, you tell me it has moved. That's too bad, and I'm not sure, when I find it, that Frank will be with it."
"I think he will be, Mr. Mason," said Bert, quietly.
"What's that?" cried Mr. Mason. "You think Frank will be with the circus? What makes you think so?"
"Because we saw him with it yesterday," said Nan, taking part in the talk, "and he said he was going to travel with it."