"Yes, come on!" urged his brother Pete. "I'll run ahead and tell 'em you're coming," and before they could stop him he had sped away. He came back a little later shouting:
"Come on! Mother's all ready for you! She's going to have pancakes and sausage and hot coffee and syrup and gravy and everything! Come on!"
And you may well believe that Rick and his friends did not pass by an invitation like this.
Ruddy had a good breakfast, too, though he did not eat at the table with the boys and the Scout Master. And between bites the boys told the farmer and his wife of the events of the night.
"Those junk fellows ought to be cleaned out!" declared Mr. Brown. "They're as bad as the Gypsies! We farmers will have to get together and drive 'em away."
After breakfast preparations were made for the boys to go back to their homes. As it was Saturday there would be no school, so they planned to have a good time after reaching Belemere.
"But first I want to take a look at the log cabin," said Mr. Brown. "If those junk fellows are around I'm going to give 'em notice to clear out."
However he did not have that chance, for when Rick and his friends reached the old log cabin where they had camped out for the night the junk man's horse, and the wagon loaded with odds and ends, were gone.
"They came and got 'em while we were eating!" exclaimed Mr. Brown. "They must have been watching their chance."
And, very likely, the men were. At any rate there was no further sign of them, and as Rick had Ruddy back, and as it was thought best not to get into a dispute, just then, with the junk men living in the ramshackle old house near the swamp, nothing was done about it.