The Boy Scouts of the Flying Squadron | Page 6

never once suspected that anybody was near. One was a tall, thin man, a German, I thought, while the other was dark and short,---fact is, I took him for a Chinese, a Japanese or a Korean from the color of his skin and his black bristling hair."
"That sounds interesting, anyway!" commented Bud. Then he added with a little amused laugh, "P'raps they've heard in some mysterious way, Hugh, how a celebrated young inventor named Bud Morgan means to try out his latest wonderful stunt, and they hope to steal the concrete result of his budding genius. But go on, Ralph. What did they do that looked suspicious?"
"Oh! their every action struck me as queer," Ralph continued. "You see they talked in a low voice, put their heads close together, looked all around as if they were afraid some one might be watching them, and then moved off, always turning to the right and to the left. You know when valuable iron ore was discovered on our farm, for a long time afterward strange men came prowling around there. It struck me these fellows might be looking for something like that."
"Perhaps they're really civil engineers, meaning to run a line across here in order to straighten the railroad and save time on through trains," Hugh suggested, leaning back after finishing his meal.
"That might account for it," Ralph admitted, "though they acted mighty strange to me. I never let out a peep till they'd disappeared from sight; and even then I thought it best to change my line of advance for fear that I might stumble on the precious pair again. Really now, I'd give a cooky to know just who and what they are, and why they've come away up here where only charcoal burners can be met as a rule."
Bud had opened his mouth to make some remark, sighing to think how he was utterly unable to eat another bite, when there was a sudden vivid flash as of lightning without that startled all the scouts; and immediately following came a tremendous roar similar to a clap of nearby thunder!
CHAPTER III
THE MYSTERIOUS EXPLOSION
"Wow! that was a stunner all right!" exclaimed Bud. "Why, honest, I could feel the ground shake under me when that thunder clap came! And as I happened to be looking over there where the opening lies, the flash nearly blinded me."
"Lightning and thunder in November is something you don't often meet," was the comment of Ralph, turning a perplexed face toward Hugh, as though depending on the leader of the Wolf patrol to solve the puzzle.
Without saying a word, Hugh jumped to his feet and went outside to take a look around. He came back almost immediately, and his face told them that his investigation instead of clearing up the mystery had only added to it.
"What did you find out, Hugh?" questioned Bud.
"Not a single cloud to be seen in all the sky!" said the other impressively.
"Whew! that seems queer, doesn't it?" faltered Bud.
"And it must be almost down to freezing, into the bargain," added the patrol leader. "I've seen lightning before, in February even, but always during a thaw. Fact is, boys, I can't believe that it was either lightning or thunder we saw and heard."
"But, Hugh, what could it have been then?" demanded Ralph.
"If we were nearer the granite quarries, I'd say they had set off an extra big blast. You know we sometimes hear a faraway boom over home. Sound travels many miles when there's a sub-strata of rock like a ledge to act as a conductor."
"Yes, but then I understood work had stopped there for the season the Saturday before Thanksgiving," volunteered Bud. "Still, they may be doing some blasting, just to keep things moving as long as the snow holds off. If that was a blast of dynamite, it must have been a stunner to make the earth quiver so much."
Hugh made no reply. Plainly he was deeply impressed with the mysterious nature of the unannounced explosion. And when once Hugh started to find out what things meant, he seldom let the matter drop until he had accomplished his purpose.
Bud also went to the door and looked out, his curiosity having been duly aroused. Hence he did not 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