The Rover Boys Under Canvas | Page 8

a tin box
containing some valuable papers from the old man, and for this they
had at first been threatened with arrest, but had been allowed to go
when Slugger's father gave up his claim to the place.
"You think you're smart, don't you?" Slugger Brown had grumbled to
Jack when he was ready to depart from Snowshoe Island. "You just
wait, Jack Rover! I'm not going to forget you and your cousins in a
hurry!"
"And I won't forget you either," Nappy Martell had added. "We'll get
even with you when you least expect it."
But for quite a while now none of the Rovers had seen or heard
anything more of Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell. But they were
destined to hear more from these two unworthies, and in a most
unusual fashion.
CHAPTER III
THE AMMUNITION FACTORY EXPLOSIONS
"Oh, I do hope Mary is safe!" cried Martha Rover, as she and the others
ran toward where the automobiles which had brought them over to
Colby Hall from the girls' boarding school were standing.
"So far those explosions haven't reached Clearwater Hall," answered

her brother Jack. "But there is no telling what a real heavy explosion
may do."
"That's just it!" burst out his cousin Randy. "For all we know, those
Hasley people may have a large quantity of TNT or some other high
explosive stored there, and if that should go up--good-night!"
"It would be fierce!"
"I think it's awful to allow those ammunition people to have their works
so close to a town," was Ruth Stevenson's comment.
Boom! Boom!
Two more explosions rent the air. Then followed a series of poppings
like the discharge of a machine gun.
"Those must be some of the small shells going off," said Andy. "Gosh,
what a shame they couldn't have held this back until the Fourth of
July!" he added. Andy would probably have wanted to joke at his own
funeral.
The Rovers and their girl friends were soon seated in the automobiles
which they had used earlier in the day to bring the girls to Colby Hall.
With them went as many of the other cadets and their friends as could
pile into the machines or hang fast to the running boards. All of the ball
players went in their baseball outfits, not taking time to change to their
uniforms.
The Rovers and their friends were among the first to leave the military
institution, and for this reason they got away without any trouble. They
had scarcely departed when Captain Mapes Dale, the military instructor
attached to the school, appeared and forbade any more of the cadets to
leave the grounds.
"There is no telling how dangerous those explosions may become," said
Captain Dale, "and Colonel Colby thinks it is best that you remain here
where it is comparatively safe. Even as it is, we may have some big

shells coming this way."
The Hasley Shell Loading Company had been located on the opposite
shore of Clearwater Lake for a number of years previous to the opening
of the war in Europe. But at that time it had been only a small concern,
employing but a handful of men. A year after the opening of hostilities,
however, the plant had been enlarged, and now, since the entrance of
the United States into the war, the force of workmen had been again
doubled and many additional buildings had been erected, some along
the lake front and others in the hills further back. A spur of the railroad
had also been built to the plant, and on this were numerous cars, all
painted to show the dangerous nature of the freight they were destined
to carry.
On two different occasions the Rover boys and their chums had rowed
over to the vicinity of the shell-loading works to look at what was
going on. Guards around the works, however, had kept them from
landing or even getting within a reasonable distance of the place. This,
they knew, was done because the authorities feared that some spies
might try to get into the buildings with a view to blowing them up.
"Gee, that certainly sounds like war!" cried Andy, as the explosions
continued. There was a continual popping of small shells, punctured
every now and then by a decidedly heavier explosion.
"My gracious! Look at that!" burst out Jack a moment later.
What the oldest Rover boy referred to was a curious explosion of a
quantity of shells which seemed to go up in the form of an immense
sheaf of wheat. Thousands of small objects filled the air, flying off in
all directions of the compass.
"I'll bet we'll get some of those over here!" exclaimed Gif Garrison,
who was clinging to the running board of the machine.
And he was right. Only