through the grass. They waited until the men were out of earshot, then peered through the undergrowth.
"Shall we follow them?" asked Joe eagerly.
"You bet we will! I want to know where this cave is that they're talking about. And I want to know who the prisoners are that they mentioned."
"Do you think it really could be Chet and Biff?"
"I'm almost sure it is. Didn't you hear the fellow saying that the prisoners kept insisting that there'd been a mistake? We've figured it out right all along. They captured Chet and Biff in mistake for us."
The Hardy boys began moving through the undergrowth on the trail of the four men. They crouched down and kept to the shelter of the bushes so that they were able to proceed at a good rate of speed without exposing themselves to view.
"If we can only get into the cave and get Chet and Biff free!" exclaimed Joe.
"It won't be any too easy. They seem to be guarding them pretty closely. First of all, we've got to be certain that it's them."
"I don't think there's any doubt of that. Everything hangs together too well. If we could get them out we could run for the boat and get them away to the mainland."
