other members of the party had
followed in a larger automobile. Secretly, Grace and Mrs. Gray were
longing to talk with David Nesbit. He had arrived from the north only an
hour before the wedding, thus giving them no chance for an interview.
Both were imbued with but one thought and that thought centered on Tom
Gray.

When the last hearty words of good will and farewell had been said and
the train bearing the Southards westward had chugged out of the station,
Grace was still obliged to possess her soul in patience while the
remainder of the wedding party, minus the chief participants, repaired
to the Nesbits' home for an informal supper in honor of the occasion.
During its progress, however, she and David managed to exchange a few
words regarding Tom. David had canvassed the region of the camp as
thoroughly as was possible during the time he had been North, but thus
far he had met with no clue to Tom's whereabouts.

It was after eleven o'clock when Hippy, Nora, Anne, David, Mrs. Gray,
Mrs. Nesbit, Grace and Elfreda Briggs, whom Grace had begged to remain
with her, settled themselves in the library to hear David's account of
his northern explorations.

"I am all broken up because I have no news for you," he began. "Good old
Tom's disappearance is the most baffling problem I've ever dealt with.
Blaisdell is completely discouraged. He and I have tramped through those
woods for days from daylight until dark. So far as we know, no one saw
Tom after he left the village. I found one little boy who insists that
he saw Tom that day, but he saw him just before he entered the woods, so
that doesn't help much. But I won't give up. I shall have to remain in
New York for a day, then I am going back to stay until I find him."

"Mr. Blaisdell has written me that he must go to Cincinnati for a week
or two," sighed Mrs. Gray. "A case he was working on, before he took up
mine, needs his immediate attention."

"Yes; he told me," nodded David. "He is a splendid man, but he's
handicapped in Tom's case by not being a thorough-going woodsman. His
work has lain a great deal in large cities. If one of us had disappeared
in such a wild region, instead of Tom, I'd say the very man to do the
trailing would be Tom Gray himself. What I can't understand is how an
expert woodsman like Tom could come to grief in the wilds."

"Tom was always venturesome and reckless of danger," replied Mrs. Gray
with an ominous shake of her head. "I wish he had go