CONTENTS

CHAPTERPAGE
I.[Jerry Is Absent-Minded]1
II.[Jerry Explains]11
III.[The Clay-Diggers]22
IV.[Suspicions]31
V.[Professor Snodgrass]41
VI.[Disappointment]48
VII.[A Queer Conference]59
VIII.[Selling the Land]67
IX.[A Hurried Departure]74
X.[The Plaster-Mud]86
XI.[“We’ve Been Tricked!”]93
XII.[On the Brink]99
XIII.[Another Disappointment]107
XIV.[On the Trail]115
XV.[A Stowaway]124
XVI.[A Hard Fall]132
XVII.[The Celebrated Doctor]140
XVIII.[A Cry of Fire]150
XIX.[On the Way]158
XX.[Stuck]166
XXI.[The Deserted Camp]173
XXII.[Searching]182
XXIII.[In the Gulch]190
XXIV.[Disclosures]199
XXV.[Off for Help]205
XXVI.[A Race for a Life]212
XXVII.[The Broken Spring]217
XXVIII.[The Last Lap]223
XXIX.[The Operation]233
XXX.[The Two-Tailed Lizard]239

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

[THE CAR POISED FOR AN INSTANT, THE FRONT WHEELS ON THE VERY BRINK.]
[THE SCUD SHOT OUT INTO THE STREAM.]
[“YES—HE’S ALIVE—JUST ABOUT,” NED CALLED UP.]

INTRODUCTION

My Dear Boys:

Sometimes, as you doubtless know, the simplest actions result in the most remarkable complications. When Jerry Hopkins picked up a lump of common-looking clay on some swamp land that his mother owned he had no idea what a strange series of events was to transpire from his simple act. Before he realized it he and his chums were involved in a strange secret, and they had set off on a trip that had, as its ultimate object, the saving of the life of Professor Snodgrass.

In this, the sixteenth volume of the “Motor Boys Series,” I have set down what followed when Jerry learned the value of that lump of clay. How he and his chums started off after the professor, who had strangely disappeared; how they found him, almost lifeless; and how they raced to bring the celebrated doctor to him—all this you will find related in this book.