The young master of Hyson Hall

When Phil left the house, after receiving the note from his uncle, he ran down past the barn, climbed two fences, and hurried over the fields to a little stream, which ran through the Hyson Hall property and then crossed the public road.

There was a bridge here, which was a favorite resting-place for foot-travellers in summer-time. The spot was shaded by a large tree, and there were some grassy banks, which were very pleasant to sit upon.

Here it was that the person who sent the note to Hyson Hall was to wait for Old Bruden to be brought to him; but when Philip reached the spot he could see no one. He looked on both sides of the bridge and even under it; he looked up the road, he looked down the road; he stood up on the fence, and gazed far over the fields in every direction, but no person could he see. He shouted at the top of his voice, calling out his uncle’s name, uttering whoops and yells that could be heard for a considerable distance. He ran down the road for a quarter of a mile, then climbed a fence again, but not a human being was in sight. In about half an hour he hastily returned.

“Chap,” said he, “is that boy gone?”

“Yes,” answered Chap. “I let him go after I had given you plenty of time to get to the bridge. He said he came from town, and was in an awful hurry to get back. I made him go by the path along the river, so that I’d be sure he wouldn’t interfere with you. Did you see your uncle?”

“No,” replied Phil. “Did the boy say anything about the person who sent him with the note,—what kind of man he was?”

“No,” said Chap, “he didn’t say anything about him.”

“I’m sorry for that. I thought you’d ask him a lot of questions, and find out if it really was uncle who sent him.”

“It’s a pity,” said Chap, “but I never thought of it. I was giving the boy a lecture about the folly of being in a hurry when he ought to keep quiet, and getting himself into a stew when there was no occasion for it.”

“Chap,” exclaimed Phil, “if that was uncle, we are bound to find him! He must be still in this neighborhood, and we must scour the whole country. I expect he’s going off again on some sporting expedition, and just came back to get the gun.”

“And he didn’t want to be interfered with,” said Chap, “or to have anybody ask to go along.”

“That may be,” said Phil; “but why he didn’t wait till Old Bruden was brought to him I can’t imagine. But we must set out and hunt him up. He’s got a good start of us, but we’ll take the horses, and we shall be sure to catch up with him. I’m pretty certain he is on foot, from what the boy said.”

“All right!” cried Chap, with great animation; “I’m ready!”

“We must both of us go,” said Phil, “because it may be necessary to head him off. When he makes up his mind to do a thing, he is not going to let anybody stop him if he can help it. If he sees us, he’ll be sure to get away if he can.”

“What horses are we going to ride?” asked Chap.

“I’ll take Jouncer, and you can ride Kit. As soon as I have spoken to Susan we will run out to the field and catch him.”

Susan was not altogether pleased when Phil told her what he and Chap were going to do, and asked her to put up a couple of luncheons which they could slip in their pockets, as they might not get back until afternoon.

If Joel had been at home, all this would have made no difference to Susan, but she did not like the idea of being left without a man or boy upon the place. But it was of no use to object, and she was really as anxious as any one else to have Mr. Berkeley found.

It took the boys a good while to catch Kit, for he had been so long in the pasture that he had become wild, but at last they cornered him and brought him up to the barn.

Jouncer and he were quickly saddled and bridled, and then Phil ran back to the house. He soon returned, bringing the packages of luncheon, and carrying Old Bruden, with a shot-pouch and powder-flask.

“I brought the gun,” he said, “for if uncle sent for it I suppose he ought to have it, though I know he won’t need it. But he likes to have his orders obeyed.”

“That ought to be done,” said Chap, as they rode away, “especially in war-times like these. It might have been better to let the boy take the gun, and then scoot after him.”

“Very likely,” said Phil; “but there’s no use talking about that now.”

“No,” added Chap, “the milk has soaked into the ground out of sight.”

“Susan did not like being left alone,” said Phil, “but I told her we’d stop at the Poole place and ask Phœnix if he couldn’t go over as soon as he got through with his day’s work. Joel is away, and we may not be back till dark, you know.”

“That’s so,” said Chap, straightening himself up; “we are not coming back without Mr. Berkeley, dead or alive.”

Phœnix was not at home, having been sent to town early in the morning with the spring-wagon. The boys rode on to Boontown, and soon found him busily attending to various commissions.

Phœnix was much surprised at the appearance of his friends, especially when he saw them both mounted and Phil carrying a gun. When he heard what was on hand, he readily agreed to go to Hyson Hall as soon as he got his work done.

“I wish I wasn’t so tremendously busy,” he said, “for I’d like nothing better than to go along with you; but all I can do is to be over at your place when you get back and hear the news.”

Phil then went to nearly every place in town where he was acquainted, and asked if Mr. Berkeley had been recently seen there.

He did not go to Mr. Welford’s office, not having heard of Helen’s visit to that gentleman; but Chap went there and made inquiries of the clerk. But no one had seen or heard of Mr. Godfrey Berkeley.

The agent at the railroad station, who knew Mr. Berkeley very well, assured Phil that he had not arrived there by any train, nor had he been there at all. The only thing they heard that seemed anything like a clue to Mr. Berkeley’s whereabouts was from a colored woman, whom Phil knew, who lived on the outskirts of the town.

She had seen a man, that morning, cross over the fields near her shanty, and get over a fence into a road which ran northward from the town, and in an almost opposite direction from Hyson Hall.

This man had something on his back which might have been either a bundle or a knapsack, but she did not take any particular notice of him, and had not the slightest idea that it might be Mr. Godfrey Berkeley. If she had thought such a thing as that, she would have sent one of her boys after him to carry his bundle.

“I shouldn’t wonder at all if that was uncle,” said Phil to Chap. “At any rate, we can’t do better than to ride along this road. We can surely find out something more about the man before long.”

Emile Touron was boarding at a small tavern on the main street of Boontown, but not near the centre of business. It was a pleasant, shady place, and not far from the office of Mr. Markle, who had the Hyson Hall mortgage business in hand, and with whom young Touron consulted a great deal more than that gentleman thought necessary.

After breakfast, that morning, Emile had been sitting in an arm-chair in front of the tavern, when he saw, at some distance, a stout boy driving a spring-wagon into town. He immediately went up-stairs, and seated himself at his bedroom window, where, sitting a little back with the curtains partly drawn, he could have a good view of the street. He thought he would prefer to sit there and see Phœnix as he drove into town. Then when Phœnix had passed, Emile thought it would be a good thing to stay in his room and get another look at him as he went out of town; but before this latter event occurred, Emile was very much amazed to see Chap and Phil come clattering by, and ride up into the town.

“Oho!” he thought,—but it must be remembered he thought in French,—“it was a good thing for me to come up here. And so they are all in town, eh? They must be going off on some expedition, with their guns and ammunition. This will be a good time for me to go down to that place and see how things are going on.”

Emile now quickly prepared to make a visit to Hyson Hall, but he did not go this time in the rickety carriage from the livery-stable. He had become better acquainted with the resources of the town, and had found out that a grocer, a few doors from the tavern, had a very good horse and buggy, which he occasionally hired out. This Emile procured, and was speedily driving towards Hyson Hall.