OFF FOR THE CAMP
The sudden and unexpected shock nearly threw Snap from his feet, and
it was several seconds before he could collect his senses.
Then, in a dim and uncertain way, he realized two things--that there
had been a terrific explosion and that the old boathouse containing
their precious camping outfit was in ruins.
"What in the world can it mean?" he asked himself, as he stared in a
bewildered fashion at the ruin in front of him. "It sounded as if some
dynamite went off."
The noise and shock of the explosion was heard all over Fairview, and
soon people came flocking to the scene from all directions.
"What blew up?"
"Hullo, the Cramer boathouse is down!"
"Fire! fire!"
Such were some of the cries which arose on all sides. Then the crowd
came closer, staring at the fallen building, as Snap had done.
In the meanwhile Snap ran forward until he was less than a rod away
from the wrecked building. He saw a small fire start up among some
splintered boards and, quick to act, picked up some chunks of snow and
attempted to put it out.
"That's a good idea," said John Sell, the grocer, who had arrived, and
he, too, began to throw the snow, and so did others.
"Our camping-out things are in that place," said Snap.
"Is that so. What blew up, some of your powder?"
"I--I don't think so," faltered Snap. He had up to that moment not
thought of the cartridges they had stored on one of the sleds.
"Must have been pretty powerful," said another man. "That noise was
like a regular blast over to the stone quarries."
In the crowd was Shep, who had just been on be point of going to bed,
and soon Whopper and Giant arrived. In the meanwhile large quantities
of snow were hurled on the ruins and soon the fire was completely
under control.
"Snap, do you think our cartridges went off? questioned Whopper.
"No, I don't. How could they go off, unless they were fired, from a
gun or otherwise?"
"A rat might have gnawed them," suggested Giant.
"Those cartridges wouldn't cause such a wreckage as this," said Snap
firmly. His senses were now coming back to him. "Well, I never!" he
exclaimed suddenly.
"What's up now?"
"I just thought of something."
"What is it?"
"When I left Shep's house I walked in this direction, because I was
worried for fear somebody might steal our traps. As I walked along I
saw two persons running across Hecker's cornfield. I couldn't make out
who they were, but I fancy they came from this direction."
"Then they must have caused the explosion," said Whopper quickly. "But
why should they do it?"
"Maybe it was an accident," said Giant.
"I'd like to know how much our outfit is damaged," said Shep,
anxiously. "I don't care about the old boathouse. It wasn't worth much
anyway."
From a nearby store several lanterns were brought, and men and boys
proceeded to make an inspection of the ruins. Some boards and timbers
were hauled aside, and soon the boys discovered the sleds with the
outfit practically as they had left them. One load was a bit damaged
at the end, but that was all.
"I'm thankful it is no worse," was Snap's comment.
"If the fire hadn't been put out when it was everything would have
burnt up," said Shep seriously.
While the boys were taking care of their sleds and the other things
the men folks looked around for traces of what had caused the
explosion. Among the men was Jerry Corwin, one of the blasters at the
stone quarry.
"Dynamite did this," said he. "Dynamite and nothing else."
"It certainly sounded like dynamite," said another man.
"How would dynamite get here?" asked Mr. Dodge, who had arrived on the
scene.
At this question Jerry Corwin shrugged his massive shoulders.
"Once in a while some dynamite is missing from our store at the
quarry," he answered. "The laborers steal it, for they can sell it to
farmers for blasting out stumps, and to others. During the past six
months we have lost at least a dozen sticks."
"As the boathouse was not worth much, why was it blown up?" asked
Doctor Reed, who had been summoned by somebody who thought a man had
been hurt.
"That's the question," said Mr. Dodge. "Evidently it contained nothing
of value outside of the outfit belonging to our sons."
"Hum!" murmured the physician, and said no more.
It was a bitter cold night, so after the fire was put out and the
ruins examined, the majority of the crowd went home. The members of
the Gun Club put their outfits in a neighboring barn, where a friend
promised they should be safe, and then, after a short talk, went to
their respective abodes. It was a good hour before any of the lads got
to sleep.
Whopper was just dreaming of another terrific explosion when he awoke
with a start, to hear a loud pounding on the side of the house,
directly under his bedroom window. Opening the sash cautiously he
caught sight of Giant below, hitting the clapboards with a snow shovel
which happened to be handy.
"Oh, what a racket!" murmured Whopper. "I must pay him for that!" And
scooping up some snow from the window sill he gave a low whistle. Then
as Giant looked up, he let the snow drop.
"Wuow!" spluttered the little lad, as the loose snow filled his mouth
and nose. "Say, do you want to smother me?"
"Then stop that infernal racket," answered Whopper. "Do you want the
neighborhood to think that there are more explosions taking place?"
"Time to be moving," said Giant, and passed on, to arouse Shep.
"Now, my son, be very careful and keep out of danger," said Mr. Dodge
to Charley, when the latter was ready to leave. "I shall send old Jed
Sanborn up to see you once or twice, and if you need anything from
here you let him know and he can bring it to you." And then, after a
warm handshake from his father and a kiss from his mother, Snap almost
ran from the house, fearful that he would be late.
At the barn where the things had been stored he found Giant and Shep,
but nothing was to be seen of Whopper.
"I woke him up," said Giant. "Something has gone wrong, or he would be
here by this time."
They waited five minutes longer, and Snap was on the point of going to
Whopper's home when they saw the missing club member approaching on a
run.
"What in the world kept you so long?" cried Shep.
"Oh, I had a little set-to with Barney Hedge," answered Whopper. "He
said some things I didn't like and I rolled him over in the snow and
put some down his back to help him cool off."
"Barney Hedge," repeated Snap. He knew the fellow mentioned to be a
crony of Ham Spink and Carl Dudder. "What was it about?"
"Oh, about our outing last summer. It seems Hedge and the others are
starting a report that we didn't shoot the game we brought in, but
that Jed Sanborn brought down the most of it for us."
"How mean!" cried Giant.
"He said we couldn't shoot but that we were all blowers--and if left
to ourselves in this cold weather we would starve to death and freeze
in the bargain. I couldn't stand for that, so I pitched into him."
"Good for you!" shouted Giant. "I hope you gave him something to
remember."
"I wonder if we will have trouble with that crowd during the present
outing," mused Snap after a pause.
"I don't think they are going camping," answered Whopper. "They
haven't got enough real sporting blood in them."
After that the topic of conversation quickly changed, as they looked
over their things for the last time, to make certain that everything
was there.
The boys carried a good supply of clothing, including extra underwear
and extra pairs of boots. Each had a pair of warm blankets and also a
rubber sheet, to be used in case of sudden rain.
The stores were made up of a variety of things, including flour,
bacon, beans, some canned goods, and coffee, chocolate, sugar, salt,
pepper and condensed milk. They had their old "nest" of pans and
kettles, tin cups and plates, and likewise enough knives, forks and
spoons to go around. In a waterproof case were several boxes of
matches, and they also had along an acetylene bicycle lamp, which they
thought they might use in bringing down game at night, and an axe and
a hatchet.
All of the young sportsmen were armed with shotguns and they also took
along Mr. Dodge's rifle, as they had done before, and the trusty
pistol belonging to Doctor Reed. Their snowshoes were placed on the
tops of the loads, and they put on their well-sharpened skates as soon
as the river front was reached.
"Good-bye to Fairview!" cried Shep, when all was in readiness for the
start.
"Good-bye, boys, and the best of luck for you!" shouted Doctor Reed,
who had driven down in his sleigh, to see them off.
"Don't let the bears eat you up!" called out a riverman who stood on
the dock.
"No danger of that," answered Snap.
And then with a shout and the waving of caps, the members of the
Fairview Gun Club set off on their winter outing, never dreaming of
the many surprises and perils which awaited them.