"How far is that Lorimer Spell tract of land from here?" asked Randy.
"About three miles or so."
"Then what's the matter with our walking out there and taking a look around?" suggested Fred. "We've got the whole day before us."
"You can do that and welcome," said Jack's father. "But take my advice and take a good lunch along, because you may not be able to get anything up there. I don't know whether there are any farmhouses around or not."
An hour later Dick Rover was off for Wichita Falls by train. Then the lads asked the restaurant man to put up a substantial lunch for them, and a little later they set off in the direction where the Lorimer Spell tract was located.
Around Columbina the walking was anything but good. But presently they found themselves on a country road which had not been cut up by a steady stream of wagons and automobiles, and here they found going better.
They had covered about two miles when they came to a bend in the road, and there Andy called a halt.
"I've got something in my shoe. Wait till I take it off," he said, and sat down on a rock.
They were all resting when they saw an automobile truck rumble past them. There were three men on the front seat, and the lads were very much surprised to see that two of them were Jake Tate and the man called Jackson.