your plans are, but I hope you will have time to give me a little assistance.
"You remember I once spoke to you of some valuable property your mother owned, and how I planned to form a syndicate and erect a large factory on it. Well, I started the syndicate, got a number of friends interested in it, and we were ready to go ahead when unexpected difficulties cropped up. We found it hard to interest outside capital because of a certain flaw in the title to the property, and, curiously enough, the flaw has to do with some distant relatives of your mother.
"These relatives have disappeared, and I have been unable to get a trace of them. It is very necessary that I find them, and I am in hopes that you can help me. So, Dick, there is work cut out for you this summer, if you wish to do it. Come home as soon as you can after the academy closes, and I will tell you more about this. It is very important, not alone to me, but to a number of comparatively poor persons who have invested money in this enterprise, and who may lose if the affair is not straightened out. I am depending on you to help me."
Dick folded up the letter and put it back in his pocket. His face wore a serious look.
"Any bad news?" asked Paul, anxiously.
"No; only it seems that I'm about to start off on a mysterious quest for missing relatives."
"That sounds good. Wish I had something like
