“Colonel, it is time for your medicine.”
“Medicine, be hanged! I’m sick of those ghastly concoctions the doctor has been forcing down me. And no more of that wretched milk!”
“You are feeling better, Colonel! Such spirit!”
“I’m deep in a mystery,” the colonel smiled. “With your help though, I think we may be able to solve it. Miss Aldringham, will you find my grandson, Billy, and send him here?”
“I’ll do my best, Colonel. That boy has a way of disappearing for hours at a time.”
During the absence of the nurse, Colonel Brekenridge told the Cubs a little about himself. He said he had rented the house six months earlier, but had not been too pleased with the quarters.
“For one thing, my grandson has had no playmates,” he explained. “The boy came to me three months ago from England.”
At Dan’s look of surprise, the colonel explained that Billy was an American by birth. He had spent many years in England and other foreign countries however, in company with his father.
“Billy hasn’t been very happy here,” he remarked sadly. “He’s a live wire and hasn’t had enough to do. Then I must admit I’ve been so ill I’ve scarcely concerned myself with his social needs.”
Miss Aldringham returned to the porch to report that she could not find Billy anywhere.