Five distinct parties were engaged in searching for the missing child, Ruth Spellman. Hoke Butler and his companions had left the on foot, because there was not room in the two canoes for them. Knowing nothing of the cause of the doctor’s appeal for help, they made no hunt until, when the greater part of the distance was passed, they met Mike Murphy and his friends. These had advanced at a slower pace, for they were hunting for that which they to find, and they meant to neglect nothing.  
When the two parties came together, a brief explanation made everything clear. Inasmuch as the larger part of the beach to the had not been examined, it was agreed that the companies should return at a slower pace to the bungalow, and then, if nothing resulted, reverse and push the search all the way to the house of Doctor Spellman. This would be covering the ground twice, and it would be done effectively.
 
“Do you think she has been drowned?” asked Hoke of Mike.
 
“I do not, for it’s unraisinable that she should be. The Sunbeam is afeard of the water and would not step into it. If there was a dock or a pile of rocks where she could have fell off, she might have done the same, but there’s nothing of the kind, and the little one couldn’t have slipped into the lake while walking along the shore.”
 
It may be said that this theory was accepted by every one except the parents and they were inclined toward it. It was their of anxiety which their reasoning and made them fear at times that that precious form was drifting in the embrace of the chilling waters, and would never again respond to their loving .
 
While every foot of the way, each member of the two parties scanned the moonlit lake, as far as the vision extended, urged by a fearful that cold reasoning to the winds.
 
Suddenly Hoke Butler, who was slightly in the lead, stopped short, out on the water and asked in a startled undertone:
 
“Isn’t something floating out there?”
 
All grouped about the speaker and peered in the direction he indicated.
 
“Ye’re right,” whispered Mike, swallowing the lump in his throat; “can it be Sunbeam?”
 
The surface of the lake was as as a millpond. Barely a hundred feet from shore a motionless object was seen floating, but it was so low that for a time it could not be identified.
 
“I’m thinking,” added Mike, “that she would not float for a day or two, but ye here till I swim out and make sartin.”
 
He began hastily disrobing, but before he was ready for the Hoke exclaimed:
 
“It’s the branch of a tree.”
 
Now that the assertion was made, all saw that it was true. The identity of a limb with its was so evident that they wondered how even a mistake had occurred. The advance was resumed, and in the course of the following hour the boys reached the bungalow, where Crandall was seated on the 273with his leaning beside him. It need not be said that he was shocked beyond expression by the news.
 
“How I wish I were able to join in the search,” he , “but I can only sit here and wait and pray for you.”
 
“Do you think it likely she has been drowned?” Hoke asked.
 
“No; and yet it is possible. She may have slipped while walking on the edge and a child like her is so helpless that it would be all over in a minute or so. Keep up your hunt until she is found and don’t forget to scan every part of the lake you can see.”
 
Jack made no reference to Biggs and Hutt, the tramps, for he knew very little about them. Mike, like his intimate friends, had them continually in mind, but the same strange that for a time restrained them, held his lips mute. He did not want to believe they had had any hand in Sunbeam’s , and yet the conviction was growing upon him that they had kidnapped and would hold her for .
 
“And if the same proves true,” he muttered with the old glint in his eye, “it’s mesilf and the rest of the byes that will do the biggest kind of a good turn consarning the spalpeens.”
 
For the second time the beach leading from the bungalow eastward to the temporary home of Doctor Spellman was traversed, and the search if possible was made more than before. With so many at work, a number tramped through the woods bordering on the open space, though that seemed useless since in the gloom their eyes were of little help. They did not forget to call the name of the lost one, Mike taking upon himself this duty. He used her right name as well as those by which he and other friends knew her, and his clear voice so far into the still arches that it was heard by other searchers who, though they shouted as loud, were not audible to him and his companions.
 
Gradually they approached the home, arriving there about midnight. They had not come upon the slightest clue and no one was found in the house, nor was any light burning. All were pretty tired, for the tramp was a long one, but they were as 275ardent as ever to do their utmost to find the missing child.
 
“There’s no use in going back to the bungalow,” said Mike, as the group gathered in the little clearing; “it strikes me we may as well turn into the woo............