Page:Young Hunters of the Lake.djvu/86

76 really crazy—he was only queer—and that lightning bolt burning up his beloved manuscripts unset him completely."

"I hope you'll get that money some day, Giant," said Snap. "I wouldn't give up trying for it so easily."

"When I am a man and can afford it, I am going to France and try to hunt it up," answered the small youth.

"Does your mother ever say anything about it?" questioned Shep.

"Not much. She hates to think of my uncle. She was very much attached to him, and to have him disappear like that makes her shudder and feel very bad."

"Were you living over on the coast when he disappeared?"

"Oh, no, we were living at a place called Bartonville, about twenty miles to the north of here. My father used to be cashier of the Bartonville Lumber Company."

"I once heard of a man disappearing and coming home fifteen years later," said Shep. "But he simply ran away because he had some trouble with his wife."

"I heard of a case like that," put in Whopper, with a grin on his face. "That man wanted