"It's a go, if Roger agrees."
"Oh, I'll agree fast enough," put in Roger.
"Then here's your money," said Mr. Ranquist, as if he feared the boys might change their minds. He drew some bills from his pocket, stripped off two crisp bank notes, and passed five dollars each to Roger and Adrian. The boys took the cash as if they had been used to that sort of thing all their lives.
"Now," said Mr. Ranquist, "I guess we won't need you to-day, for as a matter of fact we're going back to the hotel. But can you come with us the day after to-morrow? We want to travel along this ridge, back into the hills, and we don't want to run the chance of getting lost. So can you meet us at the Cardiff Inn right after dinner?"
"I guess so," answered Adrian. "Yes, sir, we'll be there," and he slyly nudged Roger, warning him to make no answer.
Then the boys turned to go back down the hill, leaving Mr. Dudley and Mr. Ranquist to follow when they pleased. As Roger was about to go away he fancied he heard the older man remonstrating with Mr. Ranquist.
"We need those boys," he thought he heard the younger man say. "They'll come in handy, and I had to hire them. They were altogether too suspicious and knowing, and now I have thrown them off the track."
At which expression Roger wondered somewhat, and all the way home he was busy thinking of the mysterious operations of the new arrivals in Cardiff.