The Boy Scouts of the Flying Squadron | Page 7

hear Ralph make a significant
admission.
"Now that I come to think of it," the other remarked, "for the last two
nights I can remember hearing a distant, dull sound that I thought was a
heavy blast off in this quarter. I chanced to be outdoors each night
about ten o'clock. It's come much earlier this time, it seems; but,
anyhow, that is getting to be a regular nightly performance I wonder if
they are working over in the granite quarries? I'm something of a
sticker when anything bothers me like this, and for three cents I'd take a
turn over that way to-morrow just to satisfy my mind."
"I was wondering whether those two men you saw could have had
anything to do with that queer crash and flash?" suggested Hugh
slowly.
"Ginger! I wonder now!" exclaimed Ralph, who apparently had not
thought to connect the pair of strangers with the mysterious goings-on.
"But they didn't seem to have anything along with them at that time. I
remember seeing the taller man take something out of his pocket and
examine it, Hugh; and at the time it struck me the shiny object looked
mighty like one of these modern automatic pistols."
Hugh shook his head as though, try as he would, as yet he could see no
way of solving the puzzle. Just then Bud came back, having fixed the
door the same way he had found it, with the loose board used as a prop
to keep it in position.

"Just as you said, Hugh," he announced, "it's clear as a bell, with a
young moon hanging low in the western sky and the stars shining like
all get-out. No siree, thunder never yet was heard on a night like this.
So I guess it must have been a blast. They do say dynamite shakes the
ground a heap more than powder, because its force is always directed
downward. If you put a cartridge on top of a big rock and fire it, the
boulder is shattered to pieces. Powder you've got to put underneath
every time."
"Correct, Bud, you go up to the head of the class," laughed Hugh.
"I wanted to ask Ralph if when he used to camp around here last winter
he ever knew the air to be clear enough to hear the noise of the mill
over at town?"
"Why, it's a good many miles away," returned Ralph, "and I don't know
that I ever did hear what you say. But what makes you ask that, Bud?"
"Oh! the atmosphere must be doing its prettiest then, to-night," came
the answer. "While I was standing just outside the door I could hear the
plain rattle of the machinery, though it died away quick enough. I
understand that business is so good that they're running a night shift at
the mills. And sounds can be heard a long way off after sunset, can't
they, Hugh?"
"That's all as true as anything, Bud, though if you'd asked me my
opinion before you spoke, I would have said it was foolish to think we
could hear the mills so far away as this, no matter how clear the frosty
air might be."
"Well, that may be," remarked the other boy doggedly; "but I did hear
machinery pounding away at a right merry pace, give you my word on
that. I even stepped out further and looked around, but there wasn't a
thing in sight, only the stars shining up there and the little horned moon
dropping down close to the horizon."
"We came up here thinking we'd be all alone and could do what we'd
planned without being interrupted," observed Hugh, "but seems as

though we've dropped on the queerest sort of a mystery the very first
thing. And as scouts always stand to investigate what they don't
understand, I reckon we'll have our hands full prying into this thing."
"But don't let it make my affairs take second place, Hugh," pleaded
Bud. "What if some fellow does happen to be using up explosives by
the cartload, that oughtn't to interfere with the trying out of the little
invention which the brain of a Morgan has conjured up, and which, if
successful, will be a blessing to science, as well as to aviators in
particular."
Ralph pricked up his ears at hearing these last few words. No doubt
they set him to wondering what Bud had invented now; but the latter
did not take the time or trouble to let him into the secret, so Ralph just
had to possess his soul in patience.
"You needn't think that I'll let anything drag me away from the first
object of our trip up here, Bud," soothed the patrol leader, who knew
how deeply in earnest his chum was. "But it