i8g
one, from the description, must be Werendonk's
nephew. Werendonk could not walk so far, he
waited until the afternoon in order to go with the
carrier. The Overveen baker's boy was to show
him the way, and he led him through Duin and
Vaast down the path that leads to the bottom of the
hill, for that was where the boys had been seen.
They walked the whole afternoon, sometimes enquir-
ing at a cottage, sometimes questioning a passer-by,
occasionally they were told that tramps had passed
that way, one of them a tall youth. Time after
time they took a path that lost itself in the dunes,
looking right and left to see if they could find a trace
of footsteps. It was beginning to grow dark when
Werendonk's leg became so troublesome that he had
to sit down on the sand, but it was something worse
than the pain that tortured him as his eyes searched
beside the dark bushes and along the slopes over
which the clouds were drifting. When he arrived
home he said that he was too tired to stand in the
shop. Frans came in for a moment and questioned
him, but he only shook his head.
Late that evening, when his brother returned
from his outing, he said that the searches tired him
grievously, but he would continue to hunt, for he
was convinced that the boy was wandering in the
neighbourhood and was in bad company. Even at
the cost of his own health he must save him; who
could tell what crimes were being committed. * I