“And that’s all the more reason why I think it’s strange they offered so much for the land,” observed Jerry.
“Is this your mother’s land here?” asked Bob, motioning toward a tract just beyond the boat.
“No, it’s farther in. If you fellows want to go to it, better put on the boots.”
“Of course we want to go,” assented Ned.
A little later they were stepping from one grass hummock to another, carefully making their way through the swamp.
“Mother’s land begins here,” said Jerry, indicating the remains of a wire fence, the posts of which had rotted away. “Now if any of you can tell me what’s valuable about this——”
“Hush!” exclaimed Ned, stopping his chum.
“What is it?” asked Jerry, in a whisper.
“There are some men over there—just beyond those trees and bushes,” went on Ned. “They seem to be digging.”
He pointed, and Jerry, following the line of Ned’s index finger, saw some men with long-handled spades, removing what seemed to be yellow clay from a tract of land just beyond the boundary of his mother’s land.