“You certainly ought to report this as soon as possible,” declared the oldest Rover boy. “It may furnish the authorities with an important clue. If I were you, I would get into communication with one of your bosses without delay.”
Leaving the old man and his rowboat at the dock, the four Rovers rowed up the lake once more in the direction of the Clearwater Hall boathouse. By this time the explosions at the shell-loading plant had practically ceased, and only a small amount of smoke was now coming from the ruins.
When the Rovers arrived at the boathouse connected with the girls’ school, they found that Mary and Martha had come down to the place, accompanied by a number of the other girls. All had heard that the Rovers had taken the rowboat, and were wondering if the lads were safe.
“You’ve given us a terrible scare,” declared Martha to her brother. “You shouldn’t have taken such a risk!”
“Well, it was worth while,” answered Fred, and then told of the rescue of Jed Kessler.
“Well, we’ve had a surprise since you went away,” said Ruth Stevenson presently.
“A thoroughly disagreeable surprise, too,” added May Powell. “You’ll never guess who was here only a few minutes ago!”
“Some of our folks from New York?” questioned Jack quickly.
“No such luck,” answered his sister.
“They were two persons we didn’t care to see,” said Ruth. “They were Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell!”