Clarence Young

“ IN THE GULCH
“Now, boys,” began Jerry Hopkins, who seemed to take the leadership in this crisis, “we’ve got to map out a plan of work for ourselves. It won’t do to go at this thing haphazard, or hit and miss. We’ve got to have a system.”
“That’s right, old man!” exclaimed Ned. “Go on, map it out, and we’ll be with you.”
“Why don’t we yell—fire guns—build a signal fire—climb a tall tree—find the professor that way!” cried Andy Rush, with his usual impetuosity. ”

“ But he made no objection as Jerry took his place at the wheel, and slipped in the switch key of the electric starter. Ned and Bob got in the tonneau, and Jerry, looking back to see that both doors were closed, was about to start off when a voice behind the machine cried:
“Hold on! Wait a minute! I won’t be a second! Give me a lift; will you? I forgot all about it! Terrible important message! Dad’ll be wild if I don’t deliver it! Great game; wasn’t it? Our boys won fine! Here I am! Let her go! Never say die! Whizz her along, Jerry! I’m here! Let her out, do you hear? Move the boat!” ”

“ He’s got it!” cried Andy Rush, and the excitable chap could be seen dancing about the outer edge of the crowd on the dock.
Jerry guided the boat to the stringpiece. The crowd moved back, and parted. A small man, who had been stretched out full length, with his head and shoulders over the edge of the wharf, suddenly arose. He had a small net in his hands, and something in the meshes was wiggling.
“I have it!” cried the little man. His hat fell off, revealing a shiny bald head and a pair of spectacled eyes. “I have it!” he cried again. “The finest specimen of a calico bass I have ever seen! ”

“ He sat silent in one corner of the big car.
“Will we be in time? Will we be in time?” was the question that ran through Jerry’s mind continually.
That every moment counted he well knew from the look on the face of Dr. Wright as he read the note Dr. Brown had written. Professor Snodgrass was in imminent danger. That much was certain. Could he be operated on in time? Could he be given back the life that was so fast slipping away, long enough to make the disclosure he had hinted at in his delirium—a disclosure that would prove the fraud of those who had taken the land from Mrs. Hopkins? ”

“ The boys could hear the crackle of flames, and the shouts of men mingled with the puffing of the steamers. The whistle of boats approaching to do battle with the flames from the river front, was also heard.
“Low bridge!” cried Jerry, as the bow of the Scud rammed the double doors. There was a crash, and a splintering of wood, but the portals held, and did not swing open. The shock sent the boat back in the water, and the boys were almost thrown off their feet.
“Got to try again!” Jerry cried. He had put the propeller out of gear as soon as the boat hit, and now he reversed the screw. ”

“ I’ll get it!” spluttered Andy.
“No! No! Don’t hurt it! Don’t hit it, or kill it! If you use violent measures the fish will be spoiled as a specimen!” cried Professor Snodgrass. “I had rather let it get in the water, and net it again, than to harm it.” He danced about excitedly.
But no one seemed to pay any attention to him. Nor did the little scientist notice our three friends. His attention was all on the escaping specimen.
“I have it!” cried Andy, suddenly throwing himself forward, full length on the dock. The fish was just ahead of him, and it seemed that the small chap must capture it. ”

“ As he turned up a cross road, that would take them to Blairtown Ned, glancing up suddenly, cried out:
“Look out, Jerry! Where are you steering? You’re heading right for that other car!”
A big machine, coming from the opposite direction, and at high speed, was headed directly for the auto of the motor boys. But it was on the proper side of the highway, whereas Jerry was on the left.
“Look out!” Bob cried, springing to his feet. “We’re going to have a smash, sure!” He leaned forward to open the side door, as though he would leap out. ”

“ Ned wanted to know.
“Well,” began Jerry slowly, “we’ll have to make a start on each of these trails, of course. Then when we find one doesn’t pan out we’ll try another.
“My notion,” he went on, “is that the professor used each and every one of these woodland paths. But he only used one the last time, and on that there will be no return marks. Now the thing for us to do is to find that last trail, and the only way we can do that is to pick out the one with the freshest marks—that is, the one that shows the freshest marks after we have gone beyond the point where we, ourselves, tramped.” ”

“ And, as Jerry, Ned and Bob turned a corner, and sped down a street that led to Silver River they saw that the blaze was in a large lumber yard, adjoining the house where their boat was stored. The piles of dry boards were rapidly being licked up by the advancing flames. While the boathouse had not yet caught it was evident that it soon would go, for the wind was driving the tongues of fire in its direction.
“It hasn’t caught yet,” panted Bob, as he raced on beside Jerry. “False alarm for us!”
“Not much!” snapped the tall lad. “We’ve got to get busy. It’ll go up in short order.” ”

“ We can wear boots and wade when we can’t go any farther in the boat. Maybe we can get a line of how things are going that way. If there’s coal, or diamonds, on that land we might be able to see it.”
Jerry laughed.
“I can’t believe there’s anything as valuable as that on the swamp piece,” he said. “But, all the same, I’m suspicious. It’s very good of you boys to take an interest in my affairs.”
“Huh! It’s nothing of the sort!” cried Bob. “You’d do the same for us. I’m in favor of Ned’s plan—to go take a look at the place.”
“All right, then we’ll go,” assented Jerry. ”

“ The boys looked about them. There seemed to be more men digging in the swamp than on their former visit. The laborers were delving in the mud and water with their long-handled shovels, taking out the sticky mud and clay. The yellow stuff lay beneath a layer of black peat, and Jerry noticed that the peat was piled on one side of the ditches, while the yellow clay was stacked on the opposite bank.
They made their way to where the motor boat was moored, and, as they reached it, Jerry looked back for a moment in the direction where the men were digging in the swamp. ”

“ Ned and Jerry, with no particular object in view, wandered about the camp. It was true nothing could be done or learned until Dr. Snodgrass returned, and the boys, knowing his eagerness when he was searching for specimens, realized he would not come back until called by darkness. [187] Even the pangs of hunger were often ignored by the little scientist.
“There’s no use trying to follow the trail, I suppose,” observed Ned, after a time, which they had occupied by looking about. They saw where the professor had left his spare nets, and where he had carefully put away his filled specimen boxes. ”

“ We’ll go find the professor. But it’s a hard thing to believe him against us—a hard thing.”
“Don’t believe it, dear,” suggested Mrs. Hopkins in her gentle voice. “Just suspend judgment. I am sure it will all come out right.”
Jerry shook his head doubtfully.
“And, if it doesn’t,” went on his mother, “money isn’t everything in this world. We shall live, even without the money we might have had from the sale of this yellow clay, Jerry.”
“Oh, but I do hate to be cheated and fooled!” he answered. “Noddy Nixon is laughing at us now, I believe.”
“Let him!” advised Ned. ”

“ It is a hard matter to know, or even fear, that a faithful friend has been unfaithful, particularly so when one is young and rather unsophisticated. It is no small matter then to have one’s ideals shattered.
And it was thus with Jerry and his chums when they read the advertisement of the Universal Plaster Company, and saw the indorsement of Professor Snodgrass, concerning the value of the yellow clay, which was given a high-sounding medical name, based on the Latin term. ”

“ He laughed at the idea of a two-tailed lizard. I said I would prove to him that such a creature existed, and I am going to do it!
“I at once set out from Boston, and, knowing that you boys always go off on summer trips, I came to you. May I accompany you on your travels this time? I am sure I shall find the two-tailed lizard somewhere, and I always have good luck when I go with you boys. May I accompany you on this occasion?”
“Of course, Professor,” said Jerry, heartily. “But we have made no plans as yet.”
“Is that so? You surprise me!” the professor exclaimed. ”

“ Come on, boys, let’s hustle and get on the trail.”
The motor boat was sent by freight to the headwaters of Silver River, and then the boys spent a few days getting their own outfit ready to take with them in their auto.
“Say, I wish you’d take me!” cried Andy Rush, when he heard something of the prospective trip. “I’d help—do the cooking—bring the water—rustle the wood—stand guard—Noddy Nixon might try some of his funny tricks—I’d stand him off—take me along—I need a vacation—I’ll pump up the tires—whoop!”
“You’ve got enough hot air—that’s sure—to pump up a dozen tires, Andy,” said Jerry. ”

“ Then Bob spoke.
“What are we going to do?” he asked. “We can’t stay here all night in this rain.”
“I don’t see what else we’re going to do,” Jerry answered. “We don’t want to desert the car, and we don’t want to go to sleep in her. She might come loose any moment. Guess we’ll have to camp out here, and make the best of it. ’Twon’t be the first time we’ve roughed it.”
“No, but I don’t see any necessity for it,” spoke Ned. “We have a strong rope in the tool box—a wire cable—and we can take a turn about the rear axle with that, and fasten it to a tree. ”

“ Andy Rush, who had begged a ride with the three friends, had just run down the road in pursuit of a rabbit, so he was not within sound of the voices of the three chums. Andy was an excitable chap, who never did any one thing very long at a time. He was rather a “fly-away,” but Ned, Bob and Jerry liked him for all that. ”

“ Bob explained.
“We couldn’t get any other doctor,” added Ned.
“What! Couldn’t get any other doctor in New York?” cried the country practitioner. “You surprise me!”
“Oh, but it wasn’t in New York. It was not far from here, at a place called Brookville,” went on Jerry. “Dr. Wright, if he is the same one you mean, is stopping there on his vacation.”
“You can’t be mistaken in the man,” said Dr. Brown, and he quickly described him, for he had heard him lecture in college several times.
“That is he!” exclaimed Jerry. “He isn’t so far away as you thought, Dr. Brown.” ”

“ But, as the tall lad had said, it needed a human hand to hold it, to make just the right pull, to provide for the automatic opening and closing of the valve.
“You can’t hold it,” objected Jerry. “It will mean hours of remaining in one position, and your hand’ll ache like the mischief.”
“I’ll do it,” responded Bob quietly. “We’ve got to make this trip as fast as we can, and we haven’t any time to lay up for repairs. I’ll hold the broken spring.”
“Good!” cried Jerry. “Then we’ll take turns at it. It’ll be hard work, and no fun having to stay so close to the hot motor. ”