“I’ve got sharp eyes, boy,” was the answer. “I use ’em in my business.”
In fact, as the boys observed closely, they could see that the two machines were not moving. They could also note men walking about the cars.
“Something’s out of kilter,” said Ned. “I guess they found plenty of trouble running two machines. I’ll bet one of ’em is ours.”
They watched Nestor descend the slope and approach the cars. As he came closer to them it was observed that there was some commotion among the persons grouped around the machines. They saw the miner raise his hand in the air, and little clouds of smoke arose.
“He’s firing over their heads!” cried Broswick.
Then, all at once, the persons down in the valley, who, as the boys afterward learned, were Noddy Nixon and his gang, made a rush for the head auto, jumped into it and made off at top speed.
Nestor rode up to the remaining machine and waved his hat back to his friends. Taking this as a signal that all was right, they hurried forward.
“It was them, all right!” cried Nestor, when Jerry and the others had joined him. “I scared them off by firing in the air. There seemed to be something the matter with our auto, for they were trying to fix it.”
The boys were worried lest some harm had befallen their machine. Jerry made an examination, however, and found things in good shape. There was some damage, and a battery wire had become disconnected, which had brought the machine to a stop, thus foiling the plans of Noddy.