lked several hours, they were no wiser than when they started.

It was plainly of no use to search in this way, and George started back
to the house for his instruments, that he might locate the spot from the
directions on the paper, which he still held in his hand.

The boys, glad of a rest, waited for his return, until, after he had
been absent nearly an hour, when he could easily walk the distance in
twenty minutes, Bob and Ralph started in search of him, leaving Jim and
Dick there in case he should return.

Mr. Simpson both astonished and alarmed them by saying that George had
not been to the house since he first left it, and then they began a
hurried search, which resulted in nothing. They called him by name,
started Jim and Dick out even to the remote portions of the lot; but
without success.

Strange as it seemed, it was nevertheless true that George had
mysteriously disappeared.

CHAPTER XXII.

A CRUEL DEED.

When the boys met in the wood-lot at the spot where George had left
them, after they had made the first hurried survey of the place,
consternation was imprinted on every face. They knew that Harnett would
not voluntarily have gone away without telling them, and an undefined
but a very great fear took possession of them.

Each looked at the other as if fearing to speak that which was in his
mind, and yet all were conscious that whatever was done to find their
missing friend should be done at once.

It seemed so improbable that anything could have happened to him there
without their knowing it, that no one ventured to put his suspicions
into words, and each waited for the other to speak.

"It can do no good for us to stand here," said Ralph, after he had
waited some time for a suggestion from Bob. "George is either not here,
or else some accident has happened which prevents him from answering. If
he had been here, and as he was when he left us, he must have heard us
when we called. Now, what shall we do?"

All three of the moonlighters stood looking at him in silent dismay.
They were bewildered by the sudden disappearance, and Ralph understood
that whatever steps were taken toward finding George must be directed by
him, for his companions seemed incapable even of connected thought.

"In the first place," he said, "let's make a thorough search of the
wood-lot, beginning from this point and working toward the house in the
direction he disappeared. If we don't find him here, we will try to