Mad Scientists' Club by Bertrand R. Brinley, Charles Geer Read Free Book Online

about."
    "But you let everybody poke fun at Dinky and Freddy for claiming the egg had been stolen!"
    "I am a little ashamed of that," Henry admitted. "But I didn't want to louse up my plan. If I had admitted that the egg had been stolen, all you guys would have wanted to raid Harmon's clubhouse, and we wouldn't have had nearly as much fun."
    "You mean you wouldn't!" I told him, shaking my head.
    When the professor had finished examining the big egg he announced he was satisfied that it was genuine. He also asked the Mayor if the museum and the university could have the permission of the town authorities to conduct further excavations in the old quarry, in the hope that further fossil remains might be uncovered. Never one to stand in the way of the forward march of science, or the possible establishment of a tourist attraction, the Mayor assured him that the town would be most cooperative.
    "What are you going to do with this egg?" asked one of the reporters.
    Professor Mudgeon looked at Mayor Scragg, and Mayor Scragg turned and looked at Henry.
    "What do you do with a dinosaur egg?" he asked.
    "Usually they go into museums," said Henry.
    "Unless the International Egg Syndicate happens to get hold of them," said Mortimer Dalrymple, sotto voce .
    "I'm certain the American Museum of Natural History would be very pleased to have it," said Professor Mudgeon, suggestively.
    "I suppose they would," mused Henry. "On the other hand, would you mind if we tried to hatch it first? They might rather have a live brontosaurus."
    "Ohhh ... I'm sure they would," said the professor, amidst the general laughter. Then with a gallant bow he added, "Why don't you proceed with your experiment, Professor Mulligan. The museum and I will be happy to wait our turn."
    "After you, Professor!" said Henry Mulligan, indicating the path leading back to the cars.
    "After you , Professor!" said Professor Mudgeon, waving Henry before him.
    While they were gesticulating, Mayor Scragg stepped ahead of both of them and walked grandly up the path, beaming broadly.
    We checked on the egg, off and on, for several weeks. Then one day Dinky and Freddy came tearing up the driveway to Jeff's barn on their bicycles.
    "The egg has hatched! The egg has hatched!" Dinky was shouting, long before he was in earshot.
    "Honest Injun! May my mother have pneumonia if I'm telling a lie!" cried Freddy.
    We all got on our bikes and pedaled out the White Forks road as fast as we could.
    "See, there!" shouted Dinky, as soon as we had gotten to the stretch of sand by the bluff. He was pointing to a shallow pit where the egg lay, broken into three pieces. Down by the water's edge were the same footprints we had seen before. But this time there was a definite line in the wet sand about as thick as a clothesline, waving among the tracks.
    "Look! There's his tail! There's his tail!" Freddy shouted, while he jumped up and down.
    We searched the bushes and the shores of the swamp for several hundred yards on either side of the little beach, but we could find no more footprints.
    "It couldn't have gone into the water," Dinky blubbered. "Dinosaurs couldn't swim."
    "That's right," Henry nodded. "They went into shallow water when they got too heavy to stand upright on dry land. But they were heavy enough to sink, even in loose mud. That's why so many of their skeletons were preserved as fossils."
    Henry spent a long time studying the egg fragments and the footprints. Then he professed himself stumped.
    "I don't know what to think," he said finally. "I'd like to think that we had hatched a live dinosaur, but if we can't find it we'll never know. It could just as well be that Harmon ended up a step ahead of us this time, after all."

    The Secret of the Old Cannon
    (c) 1961 by Bertrand R. Brinley
Illustrations by Charles Geer
    WE ALL WONDERED why Homer Snodgrass had been spending so much time at the library with Daphne Muldoon. We knew he was sweet on her. But what can you do in a library except look