Most of the people now abandoned the search, but some of the neighbors kept it up for a long time.
Some expressed themselves quite strongly that Miss Mount knew where the boy was, saying that she might have had some trouble with him and in seeking to correct him had accidentally killed him and then hidden the body away--perhaps in the deep mire of the swamp or in the muddy waters on the margin of the lake.

Search was made with this idea foremost, but nothing was discovered.

Rain now set in, and the grain, from neglect grew in the head as it stood, and many a settler ate poor bread all winter in consequence of his neighborly kindness in the midst of harvest.

The bread would not rise, and to make it into pancakes was the best way it could be used.
Still no tidings ever came of the lost boy.

Many things were whispered, about Mr.Mount's dishonesty of character and there were many suspicions about him, but no real facts could be shown to account for the boy.