"Wa-al, I've driv over that road as many as forty times every year for the last thirty, haulin' down wood, an' I wouldn't undertake to git a wheel-barrer out any other way than I went in. You kin stay here an' ketch 'em when they come out, or go in after 'em--_they'll be there_!" CHAPTER XIX. CLOSE QUARTERS. It hardly seemed possible to the boys that, after the mishap which it seemed would give the thieves all the time they needed to make good their escape, they could be so near to them that their capture seemed certain. But the farmer insisted that there was no outlet to the road; that a team answering to the description of the one George had lost had been driven in there, and that it had not come out. Therefore, there could be no question but that they had the thieves in a trap, as the farmer had said, and all that was necessary was to go and get them or the team. At first they were about to start out without any plan whatever, intent only on getting the horses as quickly as possible; but George realized in time that, secure as the thieves appeared to be against escape, all might be changed by too much precipitation. If they should rush in recklessly, the men might get past them by concealing the team in the bushes until they had passed that particular point, and then the road would be clear before them, unless the farmer could succeed in stopping them. It was necessary, therefore, that, in going up this road, which they were told was about two miles long, they should not only see where the thieves had gone in, but where it would be possible for them to come out, in case they should succeed in making a detour through the woods. The farmer, after listening to the discussion which the boys were having, suggested that they block up the road near its entrance with his heavy carts, and then, if the thieves should get past them, they would be obliged to leave the team at the obstruction in order to make good their own escape. This suggestion was so good that they followed it at once. Bob using his horses to haul a hay-rack, a heavy ox-cart and two dump-carts into the road, about two hundred yards from the highway, overturning and wedging them in in such a way that a passage through could not be made in less than half an hour. The farmer, having work that forenoon, which kept him near the house, promised to keep a sharp lookout while the boys went after the team, and to give the alarm in case the men should come down towards the barricade. Then, all the preparations having been completed, there was nothing to prevent them from going into the trap the thieves had voluntarily entered.