“Does she run all right?” asked Ned.

“Fine!” said the man in charge of the boathouse. “We had her out for a spin, and she passed everything on the river.”

The boys, who had adjoining rooms in the hotel, were awakened in the middle of the night by a commotion in the street.

“What is it?” asked Ned, for Bob got up to look from the window.

“Sounds like a cry of fire,” was the answer. “It is!” exclaimed Bob, a moment later.

“Is it the hotel?” demanded Ned, leaping out of bed to join his chum Jerry.

“Doesn’t seem so. They’re all running toward the river.”

A moment later they heard someone in the street ask:

“Where’s the blaze?”

“Down at Kroll’s boathouse,” was the reply. “The whole place is going!”