with apprehensive faces, and yet exchanging looks which boded no good to noddy nixon if this should be his wagon coming along the road, the motor boys in silence gazed at each other. tinny expressed the thought of all when he said:

“maybe this is noddy now!”

“if it is he’ll find us ready for him!” said jerry grimly.

“but why is he coming back?” bob demanded.

“can he have forced bill to tell him all he knows about the treasure chest and is he going to let him go?” suggested ned.

“maybe he has the treasure chest!” murmured professor snodgrass, who was pathetically trying to salvage something from the wreck of his boxes.

“the treasure chest of blue rock, provided there is such a thing, which, as you know, i very much doubt,” said tinny, “wouldn’t be here at all. i’m willing to admit that a stage coach did[167] go over the cliff, but that accident happened miles from here.”

“but some one is coming,” remarked jerry.

there was no question about that, and presently they saw who it was, a party of miners journeying along in one of the rough wagons used to transport ores to the stamp mills.

“well, it isn’t noddy’s crowd, anyhow,” said bob.

“but maybe they saw him,” suggested ned.

“we’d better question them,” decided tinny.

accordingly the party was hailed. the driver pulled in his team, and though the men looked rather curiously at the party, especially at professor snodgrass, who had in each hand a half-dead bug he had rescued from his wreck, they did not express what they must have felt.

without giving too many particulars of the kidnaping, tinny told what their object was and asked if the miners had seen the noddy nixon crowd.

“no, we haven’t passed any outfit like that,” said the driver. “have we, boys?”

“nope!” came the chorus from the miners.

“then noddy must have turned off on a side trail,” decided tinny, as the rattling vehicle rumbled on.

“we’d better hurry if we’re going to catch him before dark,” suggested ned.

[168]

“i’m just thinking,” said tinny slowly, “that it will hardly be wise to keep on any further just now. it will soon be dark and we aren’t prepared to camp out over night. besides, in the darkness we can’t do any sure searching.”

“what do you think we’d better do?” asked ned.

“go back to camp, get a good night’s rest, and start out fresh in the morning with a posse,” answered tinny. “i’ll take a bunch of the miners with me, and hank, you can lead another party. you boys can divide yourselves up if you like, and we can thus follow two or more trails at once, for we shall very likely get on false leads. besides, i think we’d better get the professor back to camp,” he added in a low voice. “it looks to me as if he was about all in.”

so it was decided, and when as many of the professor’s bugs and insects had been picked up as it was possible for him to save, he was assisted into the automobile which was turned about and headed for leftover.

it was quite dark when the party arrived, and hang gow and some of the men were preparing supper. the miners ate by themselves in a shack of their own, while the chinese cooked for the motor boys, the professor and tinny.

it was well they had returned as they did, for[169] soon after arriving in camp professor snodgrass suffered a collapse and had a nervous chill.

fortunately mallison knew something of medicine, and as the professor carried in his bag some simple remedies, the sufferer was soon put to bed and everything possible done for him.

“if he’s this way in the morning we won’t dare leave him,” said ned to his chums. they were very fond of professor snodgrass and would do anything for him.

however, the morning saw a big improvement in the little scientist. he was brighter and more cheerful than in many days, and though his mouth was sore and bruised from the cruel gag and though he felt lame and stiff from his mauling and being bound to the tree, he was able to be up and about.

the situation was explained to him—that a posse, or, to be more accurate, two posses, were to set out and try to rescue bill cromley and capture noddy and his fellow conspirators.

“though what we’ll do with them after we get them is a question,” said tinny.

“you go right along! don’t mind me! i’m all right!” declared professor snodgrass.

“but we may be gone two or three days,” jerry said. “and if we leave you here alone you are apt to go out after specimens, and something may happen to you.”

[170]

“no, i won’t leave camp—i promise you,” declared uriah snodgrass. “i can’t do any field work until i make some new specimen boxes, and that will take me quite a while. go ahead, boys, get cromley, by all means. i’ll stay in camp. every one isn’t going, i take it.”

“oh, no, we’ve got to leave a force to work and guard the mine,” tinny answered. “and hang gow will be here, of course.”

“sule! me stay! me give plofless nice blid-nest soup alle sammee,” promised the oriental.

“don’t let him put gasoline on the fire—that’s all i ask of you,” cautioned tinny, and professor snodgrass said he would watch out for this.

so the two posses were organized, and soon after breakfast one, made up of miners, started out on horses in charge of hank bowler, while the boys, who had decided to remain with tinny, got into the automobile with him, making the second party.

“we’ll take to horses later,” tinny said, “for very likely we’ll get on trails where an auto is worse than useless.”

so the search for bill cromley began again.