“I would if I had time,” admitted the fat lad. “But there’s no use letting the lunch spoil; is there, Ned?” and he appealed to his other chum.
“No, I guess not,” agreed the merchant’s son. “Come on, Andy, have a bite with us, but don’t you get excited or you may choke on a piece of custard pie.”
“And while we’re eating maybe Professor Snodgrass will tell us more about the radium on Snake Island,” suggested Bob.
“I think I’ve told you all that I know,” replied the scientist, “but you may ask me any questions you like,” and, shortly afterward, while still at the table, the little man was fairly bombarded with inquiries about radium, its general properties, and in particular about the kind that was to be found on Snake Island.
Meanwhile, Noddy was taken home, and nursed. He was weak and ill, but this did not prevent him, as he lay in bed, from doing some hard thinking.
“Radium; that was what those motor boys were talking of,” he murmured to himself, as he felt of the bandage on his head. “Radium on some place in a canyon. Canyon—canyon—Grand Canyon. I wonder where that is? Radium; I know that stuff. It’s worth millions—but that canyon—Oh, I know—the Grand Canyon of the Colorado! That’s it. Snake Island! That must be a place in the river. I wonder if I could find it?”
Noddy dozed off for a moment. Suddenly he sat up in bed.
“I’m going to do it!” he exclaimed. “There’s no reason why they should have it! I’ll get ahead of them! I’ve got as good a right to it as they have!”
He was in deep thought for a minute.