midday
`` You might want a witness or two , '' declared the senator 's son . The upshot of the matter was that the following day found the three boys bound for Burlington . The other lads helped to row them to the upper end of the lake , and there , at a camp belonging to a rich New Yorker , they managed to obtain a horse and buckboard on which they rode to the nearest railroad station . They were in time to catch the midday train for Plattsburg , where they had to remain over night . Then they caught the first boat across Lake Champlain to the city for which they were bound . Dave had been told by Mr. Lawrence where they might find Obadiah Jones , who was interested in a coal , lumber , and real estate business . Our hero , accompanied by his two chums , found the man in his office , a small , dingy coop of a place surrounded by huge piles of lumber .