"You certainly showed up in the nick of time," said Joe, brushing off his coat. "They had us beaten two to one."
"White trash!" declared the other colored man. "Ah knows 'em. Dey jes' pool room toughs."
"How come dey lays foh yoh 'way out heah?" asked the big man curiously.
"The chap driving the touring car was going to drive us out to a town called Greendale so we could get a train back to Chicago," Frank explained, and telling the man where they had got into the automobile. "He turned down this road, and then we met the other three waiting for us. They all jumped us at once."
"Dey ain't no trains pass through Greendale!" declared their rescuer. "Ef yoh wait deah foh a train foh Chicago yoh'll wait yeahs and yeahs, and even den yoh won't get no train."
"We'll have to go back to that town then," said Joe.
"Dat's wheah we's gwine. Get in dis yere flivver and we'll drive yoh back to de railway."
Glad to have gotten out of the scrape thus easily, the Hardy boys clambered into the rickety Ford and the two colored men resumed their seats in front.
"Soon's I see dat cah acrost de road I knowed it was de same cah dat run down mah chickens!" declared the driver. "And w'en I sees dem fightin' wid yoh boys Ah knowed dey wasn't up to no good and Ah knowed whut side Ah was gwine to take. And Ah took it."
"Yessah, we sho put de run on dem!" chuckled his companion.