rned, each doing his part in bringing 'Bijah, for every separate boy
had hold of him somewhere, as if at the least laxity on their part there
was danger of his escape. 'Bijah grinned broadly and bore it bravely.

"'Bijah," said grandma Potter, "I must have Benny here to dinner; I
can't have his place vacant. What can have kept him away?" she added,
as if to herself. "I hope he hasn't been doing anything he ought not
to--he's such a little rogue."

"Wal, I d' know's I should be for goin' so fur's to say _that_, Mis'
Potter, but Benny _is_ curis, and mebby he _has_ slipped over to Spain
or France before comin' round here," said 'Bijah.

"O dear!" groaned grandmother, the names of these far-away regions
giving her a sense of exposure and danger, "I hope nothing has happened
to my Benny. 'Bijah, you must harness up and go over and see what's the
matter."

"Yes'm," said 'Bijah, turning to obey, and every boy set up a petition
that he should go in the long wagon and let them go too. So in the long
wagon they went, shouting and whistling and singing along, with their
eyes wide open to catch a sight of Benny, if by chance he should be
coming, loitering on his way. But not one of them looked in the right
direction.

In spite of Benny's frequent little derelictions from the path he might
have been expected to walk in, his mother was greatly surprised and
troubled to hear that he had not arrived at his grandmother's, and,
furthermore, that he had not been seen on the road.

"Why, nothing could have tempted him to stay away from grandma's," said
she. "Still," she added after a moment's reflection, "he _may_ have gone
by the Brook road and met Johnny Barstow. If he has, and then stopped to
do a little fishing, he would never think how the time was flying. I
never saw a boy who had so little idea of time as Benny."

"Wal," said 'Bijah, "we'll go down the brook road way 'n see 'f we c'n
ketch this young trout."

So they returned by the Brook, but found no Benny, and Johnny Barstow
hadn't seen him.

Every ray of the calm smile which usually shone in grandma Potter's face
faded when she saw 'Bijah and the boys come back without Benny and heard
of their fruitless search. She sat silently down in her rocking-chair,
and her dear, sweet old face was pale.

"'Bijah," said she at length, "you must take the colt and the light
buggy and go--go somewhere--anywhere--everywhere, until you find him.
No, boys, you can't go. 'Bijah mustn'