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telegram from Ned's father, which the three chums received that Wednesday evening, telling them their friend was not at his home in Darewell, was a great shock to them.

"Why," remarked Bart, as he picked up the message he had dropped, "it hardly seems possible. I wonder where in the world he can be. He starts for home but he never arrives."

"Are we sure he started for home?" asked Frank.

"Why of course," Fenn answered. "Didn't the telegram from Mrs. Kenfield say so?"

"She would hardly know," Frank went on. "Ned's train for Darewell wouldn't leave until four o'clock. The timetable shows that. According to what the woman who lives next door to Mrs. Kenfield told us, Ned's aunt started away before noon. Her train must have left about that time, so Ned couldn't have gotten away from New York, if he left at all, until after his aunt had