Guns and Snowshoes | Page 9

make out anything excepting that they were either men or big
boys.
"That's queer," he reasoned, and then started forward again.
Snap was still two hundred feet from the old boathouse when a most

extraordinary thing happened. There was a rumble as of thunder,
followed by a fierce flash of fire, and then the end of the boathouse
arose in the air and came down with a crash, completely wrecking what
was left of the building!
CHAPTER V
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