When
he fell full-length in the swale, he got to his feet the best he
could and went on. Book and room were forgotten in the glow of a
larger purpose. So for two hours he splashed and struggled, but had
never a thought of abandoning the quest until the child should be
found.
At twelve o'clock they had reached the road and were about to begin
the search in another section of the wood when the church-bell rang.
This was the signal that they should return to the starting-point to
hear any tidings that might have come in the meantime. Scarcely had
they heard that a message had come from police headquarters in the
city, and that information could be had there concerning a lost child
when the schoolmaster called out: "Come on, Craig!" And away went
these two toward the barn to arouse old "Blackie" out of her slumber
and hitch her to a buggy. Little did that old nag ever dream, even
in her palmiest days, that she could show such speed as she developed
in that four-mile drive. The schoolmaster was too much wrought up to
sit supinely by and see another do the driving; so he did it himself.
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