“Grandfather may have hurt himself with the ax,” she said uneasily. “Or he could have suffered a stroke. The doctor says he has a touch of heart-trouble, but he never will take care of himself.”
“We’ll probably find him safe and sound,” Penny declared in a comforting way.
Jake stirred the horses to greater activity. In a short while the sled passed the Downey grounds and went on to the Hatter farm. Sara sprang out to unlock the wooden gate which barred entrance to a narrow, private road.
“I see Grandfather’s sled!” she exclaimed.
Without waiting for Jake to drive through the gate, she ran on down the road. Hearing her cry of alarm, the man urged his horses on.
Reaching the clearing, Penny and Jake saw Sara gazing about in bewilderment. Peter Jasko’s team had been tied to a tree and the sled box was half filled with wood. An ax lay in the deep snow close by. But there was no sign of the old man.
“Where is grandfather?” Sara asked in a dazed voice.
She called his name several times. Hearing no answer, she ran deeper into the woods. Jake leaped from the sled and joined in the search. Penny could not bear to sit helplessly by. Deciding that the emergency was equal to an earthquake or a fire, she eased herself down from the sled.
Steadily falling snow had obliterated all tracks save those made by the new arrivals. There was no clue to indicate whether Peter Jasko had left the scene of his own free will or had been the possible victim of violence.
Jake and Sara searched at the edge of the woods and returned to the clearing to report no success.