“But what—why—how?” began Jerry, with a puzzled look.
“I’ll explain it all,” said Nestor; “but, first, hadn’t you better fix these batteries on our machine? We may want to start soon.”
It did not take long for Jerry to make the necessary connections. Then, with the Cresville auto again in shape for flight, Nestor told his story.
“Who do you think the crowd in charge of the other auto was?” he asked.
“Give it up,” exclaimed Bob, the quicker to find out.
“Noddy Nixon and his gang! As soon as I saw through the trees I made up my mind it was better to use cunning than force. I happened to see on their auto the same kind of a box that was taken off ours by the landslide. I figured that they had made so much trouble for us, the least thing they could do would be to lend us their batteries. So I jest reckoned I’d borrow ’em.
“I sent Jerry off to one side to fire a gun and draw their attention there. I knew they’d run when they heard the noise. They did, and I sailed in and yanked off the batteries. There they be.”
Nestor seemed quite proud of his work. The boys were very glad to have their auto in shape again, and it was felt that Noddy and his crowd got no more than they deserved.
“They may trace us and make trouble,” suggested Jerry.