apprehension:

"What do you think happened to Jack?"

"You know as much as I do," answered his chum.

"Well, do you know what I think?" asked Frank with energy. "I think
those Mexican bandits he spoke about sneaked up on him."

"Well, if they did, they caught a Tartar," said Bob, with conviction,
remembering Jack's athletic prowess. All three boys were athletic,
good swimmers, boxers and wrestlers, as well as skillful fencers.
Jack, however, was unquestionably the superior of the others, except
that Bob was the best wrestler.

Frank shook his head dubiously. "I don't know," he said. "If there was
a bunch of them and if they sneaked up from behind while he was
talking."

"Just the same," said Bob, "old Jack would put up some battle. I'll
bet you the furniture got mussed up all right, all right. That's the
reason for that crash. Probably the microphone was torn from the
cords. They may even have wrecked the station. Boy, oh boy, don't I
wish I'd been there." And Bob doubled up his fists and pranced around,
making deadly swings at imaginary foes.

"Calm down, Bob," said Frank, dropping into a chair and running a hand
through his hair as he was in the habit of doing when perplexed. "We
don't know that it happened the way we figure. We don't know what
happened. Maybe Jack was badly hurt, maybe he was killed. Or he may be