“Lady, find,” he said quietly.
Joe trembled. What now? Nose to the ground, the great, tawny dog sniffed for the scent. And then it moved, not toward the road but off to the left toward a grove of apple trees. The blind man pulled on the leash and the dog stopped.
“What lies ahead, Foster?”
“The orchard, the barn where Ira has a room in the loft, the chicken runs, the cow shed, and Billy’s rabbits.”
Captain Tucker exploded. “Doctor, this is getting nowhere. The boy may have gone to the rabbits. That’s the trail you may be following this minute.”
In the moonlight the sightless eyes were calm. “Aren’t you forgetting the broken plate, Captain? He started out with feed. Why should he go on without it?”
Beside him Joe Morrow could feel the hired man still rubbing the hand and hear the soft scraping of flesh along the bandage. The doctor appeared to listen to something in the night.
“Are you going on?” Mr. Foster cried.
“Tomorrow,” the blind man said with that same gentleness. “The night offers obstacles. We might miss something we should see.”
“But to wait—to wait—” The voice broke.