“Do you suppose they will try to get to the mine ahead of us?” asked Jerry.
“I haven’t a doubt of it,” replied the miner. “We’ve got to look sharp from now on.”
“Had we better start right away?” inquired Ned.
“It will do no harm to wait until the roads dry up a bit,” was Nestor’s opinion. “In the meanwhile, see to the machine. Look over every part. They may have damaged it during the night. See to your guns, too. We’re going to have trouble from now on, or my name isn’t Jim Nestor.”
His words rather alarmed the boys, but they were not going to back out now, and rather relished, than otherwise, a conflict with their old enemy, Noddy Nixon.
Jerry went to the shed where the automobile had been left for the night. As he opened the door he uttered a cry of surprise.
“What’s the matter, have they taken our machine?” asked Ned.
“No, they haven’t done that, but they’ve skipped in their own,” said Jerry. “I wonder if they have done any mischief to ours?”
“That gang has stolen a march on us, all right,” spoke Nestor. “They’ve gone on ahead. Well, they may get to the mine first, but we’ll give them the hardest kind of a fight for the possession of it. I’m not going to lose a fortune if I can help it.”