“I thought it would work!” cried Professor Snodgrass, as he came over from his hotel to look at the patient. He went into a long explanation of the process of the plaster—how it contracted the small capillaries, and brought the internal poisons to the surface, where the clay absorbed them.
“I don’t care how it did it, as long as my swelling is gone down, and I can go to work!” cried Bill.
The new plaster was a success. They had proved it before on small cases, and now, on this severe one, their opinions had been confirmed.
“And there’s clay enough in that swamp to make us all rich!” cried Fussel to Professor Bailey, when they were alone.
“Yes, but we must get the Hopkins tract,” was the answer. “The best and the most of the clay is on that. We must have her land—by hook or crook.”
And so, while Professor Snodgrass was busy looking for the two-tailed lizard, and other rare specimens, and, incidentally, giving advice to his new “friends” about the yellow medical clay, negotiations for obtaining the land of Mrs. Hopkins were under way. They were nearly concluded, when, one night, Professor Snodgrass, who was calling on Professor Bailey and Fussel, remarked:
“Well, I don’t believe I am going to find that lizard here. I will leave the hotel and go back to my friend, Jerry Hopkins. He and his chums must be about ready to start on a trip. I am always lucky when I go with them. I shall surely find my two-tailed lizard!”
Fussel and Professor Bailey stared at each other. Then they looked at Professor Snodgrass. The same thought was in the minds of both.
“Are—are you a friend of Jerry Hopkins?” asked Fussel.
“Why, yes. I’ve known him for some years. He and his chums have often taken me with them on their trips. I’ve been with them ever since we discovered a buried city in Mexico. Oh, what rare specimens I got there! Those were happy days. But now I need that two-tailed lizard, and they may be going to the very place where I can find it.”