Through Forest and Fire | Page 8

clock, the soft rustling of the kettle on the stove, and now and then a long drawn sigh from father or mother, as one strove to utter a comforting word to the other.
All at once the gate was opened and shut hastily. Then a hurried step sounded along the short walk and upon the porch.
"There they are! there they are!" exclaimed the mother, starting to her feet, as did the father.
Almost on the same instant the door was thrown open, and, panting and excited, Nick Ribsam entered.
But he was alone, and the expression of his face showed that he had brought bad news.
CHAPTER V.
THE PARTY OF SEARCH.
When Nick Ribsam set out to find his missing sister Nellie, he made the search as thorough as possible.
The first house at which he stopped was that of Mr. Marston, which, it will be remembered, was only a short distance away from his own home. There, to his disappointment, he learned that their little girl had not been at school that day, and consequently they could tell him nothing.
Without waiting longer than to give a few words of explanation he resumed his trot, and soon after turned into the lane leading to the home of Mr. Kilgore. He found that both Bobby and Sallie had been to school, but they had nothing to tell. When we are more than usually anxious to learn something, it seems that every one whom we meet is stupid beyond endurance. If we are in a strange place and apply for information, the ignorance of nearly every person is exasperating.
Bobby and Sallie remembered seeing Nellie in school during the forenoon and afternoon, but, while the boy insisted that she came along the road with them after dismissal, Sallie was just as positive that the missing girl was not with them.
The party of school children which usually went over the highway was so small in number that it is hard to understand how such a mistake could be made, but the difference between Bobby and Sallie was irreconcilable.
"I know she didn't come home with us," said Sallie, stamping her foot to give emphasis to the words.
"And I know she did," declared Bobby, equally emphatically, "for me and her played tag."
"Why don't you say she and I played tag?" asked Nick, impatient with both the children.
"'Cause it was me and her," insisted Bobby.
"What a dunce-head!" exclaimed his sister; "that was last night when you played tag, and you tumbled over into the ditch and bellered like the big baby you are."
"I remember that he did that last night," said Nick, hoping to help the two to settle the dispute.
"I know I done that last night, but this afternoon I done it too. I fall into the ditch every night and beller; I do it on purpose to fool them that are chasing me."
Nick found he could gain nothing; but he believed the sister was right and the brother wrong, as afterward proved to be the case.
There were no more houses between his own home and the school building, and Nick resumed his dog trot, never halting until he came in front of a little whitewashed cottage just beyond the stone school-house.
The latter stood at the cross roads, and the cottage to the left was where the teacher, Mr. Layton, an old bachelor, lived with his two maiden sisters.
Mr. Layton, although strict to severity in the school-room, was a kind-hearted man and was fond of the Ribsam children, for they were bright, cheerful, and obedient, and never gave him any trouble, as did some of his other pupils. He listened to Nick's story, and his sympathy was aroused at once.
"I am very sorry," said he, "that your good father and mother, not to mention yourself, should be so sorely troubled; but I hope this is not serious. Nellie came to me about three o'clock and asked whether I would let her go home."
"Was she sick?" asked the distressed brother.
"Not at all; but she said you had gone to Dunbarton in your carriage and she wanted to meet you coming back. She knew her lessons perfectly, and Nellie is such a good girl that I felt that I could not refuse so simple a request. So I told her she could go. I saw her start homeward with her lunch-basket in one hand and her two school-books in the other. She stepped off so briskly and was in such cheerful spirits that I stood at the window and watched her until she passed around the bend in the road."
Nick felt his heart sink within him, for the words of the teacher had let in a great deal of alarming truth upon him.
Nellie had reached the forks two hours ahead of him, and then, not wishing to sit down and wait, she had started