Let's go and eat." Making their way back to Professor Borrodaile's old lodgings, the boys ate a hurried breakfast.

They were thrilled with the novel idea of following the trail of ore, and, perhaps, of overtaking the thief.
"The fellow, whoever he is," said Clancy, "may be able to tell us something about the professor." "Everybody we run across out here is liable to be mixed up with the prof's disappearance," answered Merry.
Before starting, the two motor cycles were gone over carefully.

Only a small amount of attention was needed to put them in trim for the morning's work.

At last, with their canteens freshly filled and hung across their shoulders, and the dwindling bag of rations secured to Clancy's machine, they got clear of the old ruins and made their start along the golden trail.
The scattered ore led upward and through the gap, then out on the farther side and into the foothills.

Nor did the trail, after getting away from the circular valley, point toward Gold Hill.