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dinosaur egg," said Harmon "I made up this dummy egg and planted it in the quarry to fool these other guys. It sure worked, too. They've spent about two weeks trying to hatch that hunk of plaster."
    "Then I suppose you're the one who made these very authentic-looking footprints in the sand?"
    "Yes!" said Harmon. "We figured that would give them a real charge."
    "Well, you're a very clever young man," said the professor. "Now, supposing you show us the real egg."
    "It's back at our clubhouse," said Harmon, and he started to lead the way back up the path.
    "Harmon has always been one of the cleverest young lads in Mammoth Falls," Mayor Scragg confided to the professor, as he hurried to keep up with him over the rough ground. "I'll have to remember to tell him so."
    The rest of us fell in behind them, and as we trudged back out to the road the members of the Mad Scientists' Club were the most dejected lot you ever saw. But I noticed that Henry had stayed behind and was searching among the broken chunks of plaster in the sand. I saw him put something in his pocket, and when he caught up with the rest of us he was wearing that quiet, mysterious smile again.
    It was pretty hot on the second floor of Stony Martin's garage, and Mayor Scragg was already mopping the top of his head with his handkerchief on the way up the stairs. When Professor Mudgeon saw the big egg on the table he sucked a lot of air in through his teeth and lunged toward it with his hands outstretched.
    "Ah, yes! This looks like the real thing," he exclaimed. "And such a beauty, too!"
    The reporters were crowding around him as he bent over it with his glass. Somehow or other, Henry had managed to worm his way in among them and was standing right at the professor's shoulder.
    "The light isn't very good here, Professor. Why don't we take it over to the window."
    "An excellent idea," said the professor, "but be very careful. This looks like a very valuable fossil specimen."
    "Oh, I'm sure it is," said Henry, as he spun around with the thing held lightly in his hands.
    "Wait a minute! I'll carry it!" said Harmon Muldoon, grabbing Henry by the elbow.
    "Look out!" Henry cried. The egg popped out of his hands and crashed to the floor, where it practically exploded into a litter of shards and white powder. "Gosh, I'm sorry, Harmon!" said Henry. "I'll clean it up for you."
    "Never mind!" said Harmon, looking aghast at the mess on the floor. "I guess you win, Henry." And he crushed a big chunk of the plaster under the heel of his shoe. Something bright among the powder glinted in the faint light from the window Harmon bent down and picked it up. "Hey, that's my ring!" he said. "I lost it when I took it off the other day to mix the ..."
    "To mix what?" asked Henry.
    "Never mind," said Harmon, sheepishly. Then he looked hard at Henry. "Hey! This must be the egg that I cast to put out in the swamp. How did it ever get back in here?"
    "I haven't the faintest idea," said Henry.
    "But the one out in the swamp --"
    "Was a fake!" said Henry.
    "So you were a step ahead of me all the time!"
    Professor Mudgeon cleared his throat. "Excuse me! But I'm thoroughly confused."
    "You said a mouthful, Professor!" muttered Dinky, as he stepped up to Henry with his face all red. "Do you mean you had us spend all night carrying chunks of plaster back and forth to that stinkin' swamp?"
    "It wasn't my idea for you to switch those eggs," said Henry, calmly.
    "Well, that wasn't very scientific," Dinky pouted.
    "No!" Henry agreed. "But it was pretty funny."
    "Well, you sure had me fooled," Harmon admitted. "I really thought you had found a genuine dinosaur egg out there in the quarry."
    "We did!" said Henry.
    "You did?"
    The reporters pricked up their ears at this, and a barrage of questions hit Henry from all directions. But Mayor Scragg's voice trumpeted over all of them.
    "Well, where is it, you young fool -- I mean, won't you tell us where it is, Henry?"
    "It's out in the swamp," said Henry, wiping