All at once the gate was opened and shut hastily.  Then a hurried step sounded along the short walk and upon the porch.

“There they are! there they are!” exclaimed the mother, starting to her feet, as did the father.

Almost on the same instant the door was thrown open, and, panting and excited, Nick Ribsam entered.

But he was alone, and the expression of his face showed that he had brought bad news.

CHAPTER V.

The party of search.

When Nick Ribsam set out to find his missing sister Nellie, he made the search as thorough as possible.

The first house at which he stopped was that of Mr. Marston, which, it will be remembered, was only a short distance away from his own home.  There, to his disappointment, he learned that their little girl had not been at school that day, and consequently they could tell him nothing.

Without waiting longer than to give a few words of explanation he resumed his trot, and soon after turned into the lane leading to the home of Mr. Kilgore.  He found that both Bobby and Sallie had been to school, but they had nothing to tell.  When we are more than usually anxious to learn something, it seems that every one whom we meet is stupid beyond endurance.  If we are in a strange place and apply for information, the ignorance of nearly every person is exasperating.

Bobby and Sallie remembered seeing Nellie in school during the forenoon and afternoon, but, while the boy insisted that she came along the road with them after dismissal, Sallie was just as positive that the missing girl was not with them.

The party of school children which usually went over the highway was so small in number that it is hard to understand how such a mistake could be made, but the difference between Bobby and Sallie was irreconcilable.

“I know she didn’t come home with us,” said Sallie, stamping her foot to give emphasis to the words.

“And I know she did,” declared Bobby, equally emphatically, “for me and her played tag.”

“Why don’t you say she and I played tag?” asked Nick, impatient with both the children.

“’Cause it was me and her,” insisted Bobby.

“What a dunce-head!” exclaimed his sister; “that was last night when you played tag, and you tumbled over into the ditch and bellered like the big baby you are.”

“I remember that he did that last night,” said Nick, hoping to help the two to settle the dispute.

“I know I done that last night, but this afternoon I done it too.  I fall into the ditch every night and beller; I do it on purpose to fool them that are chasing me.”

Nick found he could gain nothing; but he believed the sister was right and the brother wrong, as afterward proved to be the case.

There were no more houses between his own home and the school building, and Nick resumed his dog trot, never halting until he came in front of a little whitewashed cottage just beyond the stone school-house.