and Miss
Charity answered placidly.

"Bob hasn't come back, dearie," she said. "You know how boys
are--he'll probably look under every stone for that miserable Daisy.
She's a good cow, but to think she would run off!"

"Oh, he's back, I know he is," insisted Betty confidently. "I'll run
out to the barn. I guess he is going to do the chores before he
comes in."

She thought it odd that Bob had not told his aunts of his return, but
she was so sure that he was in the barn that she shouted his name as
she entered the door. Clover whinnied, but no voice answered her.
Blossom was in her stanchion. Bob had placed her there before setting
out to hunt, and everything was just as he had left it, even to his
hammer lying on the barn floor.

Betty went into the pig house, the chicken house and yard, and every
outbuilding. No Bob was in sight.

"But he put the bar down--that was our signal," she said to herself,
over and over.

"Don't fret, dearie. Sit down and eat your supper," counseled Miss
Hope placidly, when she had to report that she could not find him.
"He may be real late. I'll keep a plate hot for him."

The supper dishes were washed and dried, the table cleared, and a
generous portion of biscuits and honey set aside for Bob. Miss Hope
put on an old coat and went out with Betty to feed the stock, for it
was growing dark and she did not want the boy to have it all to do
when he came in tired.

"I'll do the milking," said Betty hurriedly. "I'm not much of a
milker, but I guess I can manage. Bob hates to milk when it is dark."

In the girl's heart a definite fear was growing. Something had
happened to Bob! Milking, the thought of the sharpers came to her.
Oddly enough they had not been in her mind for several days. The bar!
Had they anything to do with the one bar being down?

Neither she nor Bob had ever said a word to his aunts on the subject
of the two men in gray, arguing that there was no use in making the
old ladies nervous. Now that the full responsibility had devolved
upon Betty, she was firmly resolved to say no word concerning the men
who had stopped her in the road and asked her questions about Bob.

She finished milking Blossom, and fastened the barn door behind her.
Glancing toward the house, she saw Miss Hope come flying toward her,
wringing her hands.

"Oh, Betty!" she wailed, "something has happened to Bob! I heard a
cow low, and I went out front, and there Daisy stood on the lawn. I'm
afraid B