"So Grace writes. No wonder she and Dora were scared to death."
"Oh, maybe he was only blowing, especially if he had been drinking too much," came from Tom.
"I don't know about that," answered Dick, with a long sigh. "With such a rascal at liberty,--and with money in his pocket--there is no telling what will happen."
"What do you suppose he meant by blowing us sky-high?" asked Tom. But this question was not answered, for at that moment Mrs. Rover came into the room, and the course of the conversation had to be changed,--the lads not wishing to worry her with their new troubles.
Tom and Sam spent the balance of the day in looking for the missing biplane, walking down to the river, and even visiting Humpback Falls, where the youngest Rover had once had such a thrilling adventure.
"Don't seem to be in sight," remarked Tom, after they had tramped through the woods and over the rocks until they were tired.
"Looks to me as if the _Dartaway_ had gone further than we supposed possible," replied Sam. "Maybe she's a hundred miles from here."
"Oh, she may have gone clean over to the ocean and dropped in," said Tom. "But I don't see how she could--with nobody to steer. How long would an auto keep to the road without somebody steering?"
"Do you know what I think we ought to do? Go back home and telephone to the villages and towns in the direction the biplane took. Somebody must have seen the craft,--if she kept in the air."
"By Jove, Sam, that's the idea! Why didn't you think of that before? It would have saved us quite a tramp."
The two boys turned back, and reached home a little after the supper hour. The meal had been held back for them.
"Any luck?" asked Dick, who sat in an easy chair on the front piazza. His cuts had been plastered up and he felt quite like himself again.
"No luck; but Sam has an idea," answered Tom, and mentioned what it was.
"You must have supper first," said Mrs. Rover. "Then you can do all the telephoning you please." And so it was agreed.
During the past few months the telephone service in the neighborhood of Dexter's Corners had been greatly improved and the lines could be connected with nearly all of the villages and towns roundabout.
"I'll try Carwood first," said Sam. "I'll call up Tom Bender. He's a wideawake fellow and would know if an airship had been seen."