“I can’t understand how it happened,” he said to Mr. Hatfield. “Why, we’ve transported lumber and very heavy objects on that raft. We never had an accident before.”
“There’s always a first time,” the Cub leader replied. “Fortunately, no serious harm has been done. But it was a miracle the raft upset at the dock and not in mid-stream.”
After Mr. Manheim had taken the Den 1 Cubs ashore in the motorboat, the Skeleton Island camp settled down for the night.
Not until then did Dan have opportunity to tell Mr. Hatfield of seeing the gasoline tanks beneath the raft.
“I think that’s what made it upset,” he declared. “When the load shifted, all the fuel ran to the same side.”
“Fuel tanks on the underside of a raft,” Sam Hatfield mused. “That seems odd. Why would a raft need such large carrying capacity?”
“Maybe to supply another boat.”
“But Mr. Manheim’s motorcraft has a large tank. It doesn’t make sense to me.”
“I figure Jabowski’s been supplying that motorboat Brad and I saw signal from across the river,” Dan said.
“He may be selling Mr. Manheim’s gasoline and picking up a little extra money for himself, Dan. I wouldn’t put it past him. That, I suppose, would explain those tanks underneath the raft.”