“Can you tell us any particular characteristics he had?” Frank questioned.
Jake scratched his head above his visor. Finally he said, “The thing I remember most about Jackley is that he was a regular monkey. He was nimble as could be, racin’ up and down freight-car ladders.”
At that moment they heard a train whistle and the man said hurriedly, “Got to leave you now, boys. Come back some other time when I ain’t so busy. Got to meet this train.”
The Hardys left him and Frank suggested, “Let’s eat our lunch and then come back.”
They found a little grove of trees beside the railroad tracks and propped their motorcycles against a large tree.
“I’m starved,” said Frank, seating himself under the tree and opening his box of lunch.
“Boy, this is good!” Joe exclaimed a moment later as he bit hungrily into a thick roast beef sandwich.
“If Jackley had only stayed with the railroad company,” Frank observed as he munched a deviled egg, “it would’ve been better for everyone.”
“He sure caused a lot of trouble before he died,” Joe agreed.
“And he’s caused a lot more since, the way things have gone. For the Robinsons, especially.”