"Yes, what of them, Master Ned? Has anything happened to them?"
asked the Professor, striding toward the excited Ned Rector.
"Happened? I should say there had--"
"Well, what is it? Don't keep us waiting in suspense all--"
"They're gone!"
"Gone?" exclaimed the two boys in chorus.
"It can't be possible."
"Two of them are. They have broken away, I think. It must have
happened late last night, for I looked at them just before going to
bed, and they were all asleep then."
"Whi--which ponies--which ones are gone?" asked Walter apprehensively.
"Chunky's and Tad's."
"Is it possible?" sputtered the Professor, striding to the place where
their stock had been tethered.
"Yes, they've broken away," he decided, observing that a piece of
stake rope belonging to each had been broken short off. "Look around,
boys. They cannot be far away. Probably got hungry and concluded to
look for some tender bushes to browse on."
The boys, thus encouraged, hastened to begin their search for the
missing stock.
"They went this way," shouted Ned.
All hands hurried to him.
"Yes, there's their tracks," agreed the Professor. "Now follow them,
but look out that you do not get lost."
Instead, a few moments afterward, they lost the trail. It disappeared
from before them as utterly as if the ponies had walked on air from
that point on.
Pages:
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72