“I can’t imagine Noddy forcing Bill to do anything he doesn’t want to,” replied Bob.
“You don’t know how cruel Noddy can be when he tries,” remarked Jerry. “Anybody who will do what he did to escape going to the front will not hesitate at worse things. We’ve got to get Bill away from that crowd as soon as we can.”
The searchers were under two handicaps. One was that Noddy and his crowd had a start of at least two hours—for that time had elapsed since the kidnaping and the return of Mallison and the Motor Boys to Leftover. The other was the desolate region of Thunder Mountain. There were only a few mining camps scattered about the region, and not many persons of whom inquiries could be made as to the direction taken by the rascals.
They might have gone off to some fastness in the hills, there to keep the old miner a prisoner until he gave in to their demands. They might find ways of forcing him to talk, or they might just let time take its course, depending on his desire to be freed.
“We’ve got to get a line on where they headed for,” decided Tinny, as they traveled along in his car toward Livingston. “Once we get on their trail I think Hank, here, can help us.”
He referred to one of the miners they had taken with them.
“Yes,” assented Hank Bowler, “I used to be pretty good at following a trail. If this here Niddy leaves any trace at all——”
“His name is Noddy—not Niddy,” observed Ned.