"We will," promised Ned.
The tramp shuffled away, and when the two chums were again alone Ned looked at Tom and asked:
"Think we'd better follow through?"
"Sure! Why not?"
"Well, there are only two of us and if there are some tough gangs up there, or even a small band, we might run into trouble."
"I'm not going to run away from trouble," declared the young inventor. "Maybe it would have been wise to have had at least Koku along. But I'm not going back after him. We'll go on to Dismal Mountain and see what's there. Are you with me?"
"I sure am, Tom!"
They rested after the noon meal, washed the dishes in the near-by brook, to save the supply of water in the auto tanks, and then journeyed on in leisurely fashion. They expected to reach the mountain of mystery the following night.
It was dusk when they stopped the House on the outskirts of a little village and prepared the evening meal. Then, having disposed of that, they decided to go into town for the sake of the exercise and to see if they could buy a paper.
They hired a couple of boys from a house near where they had parked their machine to stand guard over it while they were in town, and one can well imagine with what pride the youngsters accepted the commission.