"And again I ask, why?"
"Because there may be women and children on the train and——"
"That's enough," exclaimed Billie. "You needn't go on with the rest. But what's the plan? We're a good ten miles from those chaps—unless we had an airship."
"And then how far do you think it is?" queried Adrian.
"Well," replied Billie slowly, as he squinted up one eye, "I should say they are about four miles away as the crow flies. But we are not crows. By the Real road, it is at least ten miles."
"There must be a short cut somewhere," insisted Donald.
"There is," explained Pedro. "Just around the next turn in the road there is a goat path that leads down to the river. If you are not afraid of getting wet——"
"There you go," laughed Billie. "Afraid of getting wet! Just let's settle it once for all that we are not afraid of anything that it is right for us to do."
Pedro laughed good-naturedly.
"Well, then, since we are not afraid of getting wet, we can follow the river for about two miles by fording it several times, and emerge on the plain a mile this side of the clump of trees which hides those fellows from the highway."