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 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.