immediate search for Boy Scouts. Out of the hundred or so in their
section, they were fortunate enough to find ten. Several of these were
searching frantically for relatives and friends. Not one but had lost
someone dear to him. They scattered with a will when Warren and Ivan
told them about the two children, but the boys who had been nearest the
Professor's house, all said that they had not seen the little girls at
all. There were no troops moving about that part while the boys were
talking and planning, and they were not molested in any way when they
scattered and began to search every foot of the neighborhood. Noon
found Warren, Ivan, Jack and a couple of others near a wrecked and
deserted bakeshop. There was no one to ask and none to object when
they scrambled over the heaps of stone and plaster and wood, and tried
the doors of the great ovens. Sure enough, there they found, well
cooked and safe, a supply of bread and meant and sweets. Warren and
Jack were broken-hearted at the absence of the slightest clue to
Elinor, but they made a manly effort and managed to eat a good and
nourishing meal, because they knew that they must keep up every bit of
strength they had.

At three o'clock by agreement they all met at the Professor's house.
Not one had secured a single clue. They had searched every empty and
ruined building and had asked every person that they had seen. No one
had been able to tell them anything that sounded at all helpful.
Warren had thought that the fact that the strange child wore a scarlet
dress would be the means of tracing them immediately; but according to
the people they questioned, half the children in Warsaw had worn
scarlet dresses or coats. Warren was sick with despair. After a short
talk, the boys scattered again, working out from the Professor's house
like the spokes of a wheel for about half a mile. As Warren decided
that he had about reached the limit agreed upon, he stood thinking,