About half way though the afternoon, as they were waiting on a siding to allow a fast freight from across the border to have right of way, the boys remarked on the fact that several tramps seemed to have made a special train of it. They observed three hanging to the end, grasping the trainman’s iron rungs for support.
The train had half passed when Dick grasped Phil by the arm.
“Look quick. There’s one of the tramps that we caught in our shack at home!”
Phil cast a quick glance and what he saw corroborated Dick.
“There, I’m glad you saw him too,” announced Dick, “for I am sure it was one of the gang. If I alone had seen him, you boys might have said that I was seeing things. I move we drop out and tell Garry, and one of us can stay behind with Sandy and let Garry come back to the car.”
This was done, and Garry was much interested in their story.
“You remember we saw them in this section once before, and it is possible they are making a stamping ground of this place. Now all we need is a glimpse of LeBlanc and we’ll have all our enemies with us. We might make a grand slam and clean them all out.”
Two hours of riding brought them at last to Hobart, and they gathered their traps and disembarked.
Ruth and her grandfather, John Everett, were waiting to meet them. Mr. Everett had fully recovered from his accident with the bear trap, and both he and his granddaughter greeted the boys warmly.
“First thing we want is to hear the whole story and then we will see what we can devise in the way of plans for putting an end to the annoyance. Shall we walk towards your house and you can tell us on the way?” asked Garry.