"Oh, in a few more years we'll be going all over the country just like dad, solving robberies and murders and having all sorts of excitement. We haven't done too badly so far, anyway."
"Yes, we had the fun of discovering the tower treasure."
"And running down the counterfeiters."
"Yes; and solving the mystery of the house on the cliff and finding out about Blacksnake Island."
The boys were referring to previous cases in which they had been involved and in which their ability had been proved. But it had been several months since any adventure or excitement had come their way and they were feeling restless, the more so now that they knew their father was at that moment in the remote mining camp in the West engaged on a mystery that seized their imagination.
"Hidden gold!" said Joe, half to himself. "That would be a case worth working on."
"Forget it," laughed his brother. "There's no use making yourself miserable wishing we were out there, because we're not and it doesn't look as if there's much chance that we shall be. Perhaps his old case isn't so exciting, anyway. You're not going to spend all Saturday wishing for something you can't have. Don't forget we're to go out with Chet and Jerry this afternoon."
"That's right," declared Joe. "I'd almost forgotten. We were to go skating, weren't we?"
"Yes; and it's about time we started or the others will be going without us."
This possibility moved Joe to action and in a few moments the Hardy boys had dismissed their father's letter from their minds and were rummaging in a cupboard beneath the stairs for their skates. They had planned to meet their chums at the mouth of Willow River, a stream that ran from the mountains down through the farm lands to Barmet Bay, on which Bayport was located. It was a brisk, clear winter afternoon, ideal for an outing, and their Saturday holiday from Bayport high school was much too precious to be spent indoors.