ing that mile tract between the two main roads," he
went on to say, without hesitation. Horatio nodded his head eagerly.

"I jumped to that same conclusion, Hugh, only I didn't dare mention it
to Mrs. Kinkaid. I thought you ought to know first of all, and decide
on the program. It's terrible just to think of it; and K.K. actually
pretended to make light, too, of all those stories the farmers have
been telling about that awful place."

"Hold your horses, Horatio!" Hugh exclaimed. "When I said that
I wasn't thinking of ghosts, or anything else unnatural. I meant
that in all probability poor K.K. met with some ordinary accident
while on that stretch, and has been unable to continue his run.
He may have tripped on a vine he failed to see, and either broken
his leg, or else sprained his ankle so badly that he can't even
limp along. I've known such a thing to happen---in fact, once I
got myself in the same pickle, and had to crawl two miles to a house,
every foot of the way on hands and knees, because the pain was frightful
whenever I tried to stand up. Well, the chances are K.K. has had
such a thing befall him."

Horatio heaved a tremendous sigh, as though quite a weighty load had
been taken off his chest.

"You make me feel a heap better, Hugh, when you're so positive," he
hastened to admit. "I was afraid it might be something even worse
than a sprain; but never mind what I thought. The question now is,
what ought we do about it?"

"There's only one thing that can be done," Hugh told him in his
customary straight-from-the-shoulder fashion, "which is for some of
his chums to organize a searching party, get the old Kinkaid car out,
and go up there to look over that abandoned road from one end to the
other. We'll find K.K., or know the reason why."

"That sounds good to me, Hugh!" declared Horatio, always ways ready
to follow where a bold leader showed the way; "and perhaps we may
have an opportunity to discover whether there is any truth about
those queer happenings the farmers keep telling of whenever the old
quarry is mentioned in their presence."

"We'll not bother our minds about fairy stories," Hugh assured him.
"What we're meaning to do is to look for a practical explanation of
K.K.'s holding out. And, mark my words, the chances are ten to one
we'll find the poor chap groaning alongside that road somewhere. But
let's get busy now, Horatio!"

CHAPTER XIII

TO THE RESCUE OF "K.K."

Hugh w