Dick was always planning how to make short cuts.
"It's too late to call 'em up now," said Paul. "They'd think something had happened. We'll write."
"Then do it now," urged Dick. "You'll get an answer so much quicker. Explain everything and tell 'em you simply must go! It will do you good."
"Oh, we'll go, all right!" declared Innis, and they went back into the house to write the letters.
Dick got out a big map and began to figure on a tentative route. Not much preparation would be necessary, at least on this side of the Rockies, for he knew he could buy supplies of food and gasoline almost anywhere. Time was no object, so they could go along leisurely, and he made his plans accordingly.
The route would have to be decided on as they went from State to State, for Dick realized that local conditions might vary, and a stream that would be fordable at one time might not be at another.
"It will be a great trip!" he remarked to himself. "But if I could only do something for Mr. Wardell I'd feel better. It doesn't seem fair, the way Uncle Ezra acted, though maybe it's all right according to law. And it doesn't seem right that Mr. Wardell should lose his fortune when he can save it, if he only knew how. I wonder if it would be wrong to act on the information I overheard by accident? I'm going to ask dad."
Mr. Larabee retired early that night, as he always did, and he piled some chairs against his locked door.