"They have taken
him away."
"When?" asked Ned, leading the old lady into the cabin.
"Oh, I don't know when! Sometime in the night. I awoke and saw that
the bed was empty and called to Bradley. He arose and has been
looking for him ever since."
"He was just up at our camp--looking!" Ned said, with a wink at Jack.
The old lady now went to a cupboard and brought forth a glass in
which a dark fluid rested. A small black brush stood against the side
of the vessel.
"I found this for you, as you asked," she said.
Ned examined the contents of the glass and made a mark on a white
paper with the brush. The color transmitted to the paper was a light
brown, not black.
"You washed the boy, as I asked you to?" Ned then enquired.
"I tried to," was the reply, "but Bradley said he would take him out
and give him a swim in the run down in the valley. He wouldn't let me
touch him."
"Well, what did the pillow case show this morning?"
The old lady pointed to the white paper.
"It was stained like that," she said.
During this talk Jack had been standing looking from Ned to the old
lady with all shades of expression on his face. Now he spoke.
"Say, Ned," he almost gasped, "what is the meaning of all this?"
"Wait a minute!" Ned said, facing the old lady again.
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