“Do you suspect that they might even try to get away with our hand baggage?” asked the other. “I thought it was only Hiram’s pockets they wanted to explore.”
“If they are thieves nothing is safe from them,” explained Rob. “‘An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.’ Keep your foot on my bag as you sit here. If anybody tries to tempt you to change seats just say you’ve got a bone in your leg, and don’t care to move around more than you can help.”
“Sure thing!” chuckled Andy; “it hurts terribly, too; and the only thing that is able to make me use it is the walk to the dinner—the cake-walk I call it. Leave it all to me, Rob; I’m frozen to this seat.”
Accordingly, the pair passed along the aisle and headed for the dining-car. Again the two men did their best to be civil, even nodding and smiling genially as the two boys passed them.
“Rob, they’re chasing after us!” muttered Hiram, in some little anxiety, just as he and his chum had entered the next car and were passing along the narrow corridor.
“All right, there’s no law to prevent them from getting hungry at the same time we do,” replied Rob over his shoulder.
“But they may choose to sit down with us at the same table, and make themselves chummy,” objected the other.
“I guess not if we know it,” Rob told him.
“How can we help it without making some sort of scene?” asked Hiram.
“That’s easy enough, if we can pick a table that only accommodates two,” explained the scout leader, “and as we’re in the advance, we have our choice.”