"What kept you?" asked Joe, looking up.
Frank sat down and, in a low voice, recounted the incident of the platform. Joe listened in almost incredulous surprise.
"So it looks as though we've run the gauntlet at last," concluded Frank.
"Boy! it was certainly a bright thought of yours that we wear spectacles on this trip. He would have spotted me in a minute."
"It was luckier still that we weren't together when he walked all through the train. If he had told that black-bearded man that there were two boys sitting together they might both have gone back for a second look at us."
"Well, we got out of it all right. I don't think there's anything more to be feared."
"Not until we reach Lucky Bottom."
"I wonder what we'll bump up against there."
"Plenty—by the looks of things so far."
The train continued on its laborious way through the mountains. It passed through little mining villages, abandoned camps, climbing on up to higher altitudes until, late in the afternoon, the Hardy boys heard the cry for which they had been waiting so long.