Diamond Pipe by Mike Connell

Fourteen-year-old Alex Clegg is ecstatic in June 1972 when his older brother, a geologist living in Canada, unexpectedly returns home to Georgia with the news that he has found a diamond pipe worth an incalculable fortune. That joy soon turns to terror, though, when his brother is murdered in Atlanta and the killers kidnap the boy, hoping he can lead them to the treasure. Alex escapes, but with the killers in pursuit, his only option is to set out alone on a thousand-mile journey to the shores of Lake Huron. Along the way, he finds many new perils as well as help from a cast of unlikely companions. Diamond Pipe is a fast-paced action story in the tradition of Treasure Island.