CHAPTER XII
ON THE BRINK
It is a hard matter to know, or even fear, that a faithful friendhas been unfaithful, particularly so when one is young and ratherunsophisticated. It is no small matter then to have one’s idealsshattered.
And it was thus with Jerry and his chums when they read the advertisementof the Universal Plaster Company, and saw the indorsement of ProfessorSnodgrass, concerning the value of the yellow clay, which was given ahigh-sounding medical name, based on the Latin term.
“Professor Snodgrass has betrayed us!” went on Jerry, still in a heatof passion. “He knew all the while that the yellow clay was valuable,and yet, when I asked him to analyze it, he said it was worthless. Andhe knew there was a deposit of it on mother’s land.”
“Are you sure about that?” asked Ned slowly.
“Sure? Of course I am! Didn’t I tell him so when I showed him the clay?I told him where it came from, and he said all the good he could seein it was for filling. Now he goes and helps these fellows made amedicine of it. He’s double-crossed us, I tell you!”
“It does look so,” admitted Bob, who was rather more likely than Ned toagree with the more positive speaker--in this case Jerry Hopkins.
“My, what’s all the excitement about?” asked Mrs. Hopkins, coming intothe room at this juncture. “Has something gone wrong with your plans?”
For a moment no one spoke, and then Jerry said:
“Something has gone wrong, Mother, but not exactly with our plans. Lookhere,” and he showed her the advertisement. She read it through withoutremark. Over her shoulder Jerry saw some statements that had escapedhim at first.
These were to the effect that several cures of stubborn ailments hadbeen effected by the yellow clay, and the medicines with which it wasimpregnated. The clay was of medicinal value in itself, it was claimed,but it was rendered more efficacious by the introduction of otherchemicals.
Rheumatism, swellings, pains, aches and ailments of various sortsyielded to its application, and the names of well-known medical menbore out the claims of the Universal Plaster Company.
“And to think that the most of that clay was on your land, Mother, andyou have sold it!” cried Jerry, when she looked up from the paper.
“Well, it can’t be helped now, Jerry,” she answered, quietly. “What’sdone is done.”
“I’m not so sure about that!” cried Jerry, pacing up and down the room.“I think Professor Snodgrass cheated us in not telling me the clay wasvaluable.”
“Maybe he did not know it,” suggested Mrs. Hopkins. “I am sure theprofessor would never do anything dishonorable.”
“Look at that!” demanded Jerry, pointing to the letter of thescientist--a letter appearing over his own signature--in which theclaims for the clay were substantiated.
Mrs. Hopkins could not answer. Certainly it looked as though thescientific friend of the boys had acted against their interests--or, atleast, against the interests of the Hopkins family.
“And just think, Mother!” cried Jerry, “if we owned that land now wecould sell the clay ourselves, and get back some of the fortune youhave lost.”
“It sure is tough luck,” remarked Ned.
“And that’s where the professor has been all this while--working inwith those fellows,” declared Bob. “He’s been helping them get thisclay ready for the market, and we thought he was after the two-tailedlizards all the while. I wouldn’t have believed it of him!”
“Why do so?” asked Mrs. Hopkins gently. “Everyone is presumed to beinnocent until proven guilty. Why not give the professor a ‘showfor his white alley,’ as I often hear you boys say? Why condemn himunheard? That isn’t fair!”
Jerry blushed.
“Well, maybe it isn’t, Mother,” he admitted, “but the facts are allagainst him. Didn’t I give him a chance to tell us the clay wasvaluable before we sold the land?”
“I know, but there may have been some mistake. Science is not alwaysaccurate.”
“That’s so,” admitted Ned. “Lots of times the professor has beenmistaken when he tried to find a certain kind of bug where all thebooks said it was sure to be. Why not give him another chance, Jerry?Maybe this is all a fake,” and he pointed to the advertisement.
“It doesn’t look so,” returned the tall lad. “Still, it isn’t any funfor me to believe the professor helped to swindle us. I’d a heap sightrather find out it was all a mistake. And, as you say, I’m willing togive him another chance. But how can we do it?”
“Follow up our original plan,” suggested Bob. “Go to his home and seehim. If he isn’t there, they may know where he is, and we can followhim. That’s what I’m in favor of.”
“So am I!” cried Ned.
“That settles it!” exclaimed Jerry. “The majority rules. We’ll go findthe professor. But it’s a hard thing to believe him against us--a hardthing.”
“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 inthis world. We shall live, even without the money we might have hadfrom the sale of this yellow clay, Jerry.”
“Oh, but I do hate to be cheated and fooled!” he answered. “Noddy Nixonis laughing at us now, I believe.”
“Let him!” advised Ned. “He laughs best who has the last inning, youknow.”
“Well, maybe--yes. Anyhow, we’ve got our work cut out for us for sometime ahead.”
Jerry sat down to read the advertisement over again. There was littleto be extracted from it save to confirm the first impression. Therewas told how the clay was accidentally discovered, and how, after muchexperimenting, a medicinal use was found for it. Then the efforts ofthe company to get control of all the available supply were detailed;but nothing was said of the forceful efforts made to induce Mrs.Hopkins to sign away her rights, of which she was in ignorance at thetime of making the deed.
“I suppose, legally, they are within their rights,” remarked Jerry,“but, morally, they are not. But I’ll wait and see what the professorsays. It looks bad for him; but maybe, after all, he is innocent. He’sa regular kid when it comes to some things, and those fellows may have‘put one over on him’ without his knowing anything about it.”
“That’s the way to talk!” cried Ned. “I can’t believe the dear oldprofessor would go back on us.”
As their preparations were nearly completed, nothing more was done thatnight. Jerry’s two chums would meet at his house the next morning, andin the auto would make the journey to the home of the professor, in thevicinity of Boston.
“When will you be back?” asked Mrs. Hopkins, as the motor boys startedaway in their powerful machine.
“No telling, Mother,” answered Jerry, blowing her a kiss. Then heslipped in the gear lever, let the clutch engage, and they were off.
The weather was fine, the roads good and the boys had nothing atpresent before them but the trip to the professor’s house. Theyexpected to reach it early that afternoon.
But they counted without accidents. It seemed that Fate had it “in forthem.”
Engine trouble developed before they had gone thirty miles, and as theywere near no garage they attempted to locate the difficulty themselves,as they had often done. The mischief seemed to be in the carbureter,and it took an hour to remedy it.
“Whew! Some work!” cried Bob, for they had to labor over the engine ina hot sun. “Let’s pull up in the shade and eat!” suggested the stoutlad, for they had brought along a liberal luncheon.
“A little of that ice-cold lemonade from the vacuum bottle!” sighedNed. “It is some warm!”
Jerry smiled indulgently, and, a little later the boys were seated inthe auto, beneath the shade of a big maple, enjoying a well-earned rest.
But this was not the end of their troubles, for first one tire, andthen another, blew out, necessitating the use
of two spare shoes theycarried, so that when they had finally passed through Boston, and wereon the road to the town where the professor lived, it was getting dusk.
“We’ll have to stay all night,” commented Jerry, as he switched onthe electric lights, and peered at the road ahead. It was not thebest highway they had encountered, either, being uphill, and in poorcondition.
“Looks like a shower,” commented Bob.
It grew rapidly darker, due to the fast-gathering clouds, and a fewdrops of rain fell.
“We’re in for it,” cried Ned. “Better get the top up, Jerry, old man.”
“All right. Just as soon as we get around the turn in the road.”
The lights of the car showed a bend just ahead of them. It was a roadthe boys had never traveled before and Jerry was taking no chances.
Suddenly a vivid flash of lightning, followed by a sharp clap ofthunder, startled the boys. At the same moment every electric light inthe car went out.
Whether the sudden darkness, following the vivid flash, confusedJerry, or whether, involuntarily, he twisted the steering wheel, wasnot made certain. But, an instant later the big car gave a lurch,and in the light of the next flash the boys saw, with horror, thatthey were headed for the edge of the road, where a frail wooden railalone separated the highway from a sheer descent. The car poised foran instant, the front wheels on the very brink, while, all about thethunder crashed, the lightning blinded them, and the rain came down intorrents.