After a few words more the boys separated, and Snap started to walk home. He had almost reached his gate when something prompted him to halt. He looked down the roadway in the direction of the old boathouse.
"I have half a mind to go down and see if everything is O. K.," he murmured to himself.
Then he thought it would be foolish, and started to enter the house. But he was undecided, and at last hurried down the roadway in the direction of the river.
He was still some distance from the old boathouse when he discovered two persons running across an open field which lined the roadway. He could not make out anything excepting that they were either men or big boys.
"That's queer," he reasoned, and then started forward again.
Snap was still two hundred feet from the old boathouse when a most extraordinary thing happened. There was a rumble as of thunder, followed by a fierce flash of fire, and then the end of the boathouse arose in the air and came down with a crash, completely wrecking what was left of the building!
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.