y to Ashton. About half way to
the town they met two students who had been away from Brill for several
days.

"Did you come from Ashton, Cabot?" asked Sam, of one of the boys.

"We did."

"See anything of my brother Tom?"

"No."

"I think I saw him," said the other student, a fellow named Lambert.

"Where?"

"Down at the depot. I was looking for my baggage. I think I saw him
near the freight house."

"Was he alone?"

"Yes, so far as I know. Why, what's wrong, Rover?"

"Oh, nothing, only I want to find him," said Sam, and to avoid further
questioning, he hurried on, pulling Songbird with him.

"If Tom was at the freight house he must have been taking a walk,"
suggested Songbird.

"Perhaps; but I am awfully worried about this."

It did not take the two students long to reach Ashton, and Sam went
directly to the home of Doctor Havens, located in a grove of trees on a
side street. A man was washing down the front piazza with a pail of
water.

"Is the doctor in?" asked Sam.

"No, sir, he won't he in until about six o'clock," said the man.

"How long has he been gone, may I ask?"

"He went to the city directly after breakfast this morning, for a
consultation with some other doctors."

"He hasn't any assistant?"

"No, sir, but he said if anybody needed a doctor in a hurry to call old
Doctor Slate."

"Where does he live?"

"In the big white house on the hill, opposite the depot."

"I know the place," put in Songbird.

"We'll go there," said Sam. "Much obliged," he added, to the man.

"Maybe Tom went there and that is how Lambert came to see him near the
freight house," suggested Songbird.

"We'll soon know," returned the youngest Rover.

It did not take the students long to cross the railroad tracks and
reach Doctor Slate's residence. They found the old doctor out in his
garden, tying up some bushes. He was a white-haired gentleman and had
given up his regular practice some years before.

"No, there has been no young man to see me," he said, in answer to
Sam's question. "Old Mrs. Powers was in, and Pop Slocum, the negro,
and that's all."

"In that case, Tom must be hanging around town, waiting for Doctor
Havens to return," said Songbird.

"It's a puzzle to me," said Sam, with a deep sigh, and he and his chum
walked slowly away.

"I wouldn't worry so much, Sam," said Songbird, sympathetically. "I am
sure it will be all right."

"It would be if Tom was all right in his head, S