l, I never smoked much. Lots of the fellows smoke more than I do."

"That is no excuse. It is a bad habit for a boy. You may go to your
room. I will consider your case later."

From then on Mr. Rugg did some hard thinking. He began "putting two
and two together" as the old saying has it. He remembered the Bobbsey
boathouse fire. On that occasion Danny had come in late, and there had
been the smell of smoke on his clothes.

Mr. Rugg went to his son's room. A search showed a number of empty
cigarette boxes, and cigarette pictures, and the boxes were all of the
same kind--the kind that had been found in the halfburned boathouse.

Danny was accused by his father of having been smoking in the boathouse
just before the fire, and Danny was so miserable, and so surprised at
being caught in the barn, that he made a full confession. Tearfully he
told the story, how he and some other boys, finding the boat house
unlocked, for some unknown reason, had gone in, and smoked to their
heart's content.

They did not mean to cause the fire, and had no idea that they were to
blame. One of the boys was made ill by too much smoking, and they all
hurried away.

But they must have left a smouldering stump of cigarette in some
corner, or a carelessly thrown match, that started the blaze. Then,
when the fire bells sounded, and they learned what had happened, Danny
and all the boys promised each other that they would keep the secret.

"Well, Danny, I can't tell you how sorry I am," said Mr. Rugg, when the
confession was over. "Sorry not only that Mr. Bobbsey's boathouse was
burned, but because you have deceived me, and your good mother, and
smoked in secret. I feel very badly about it."

Danny did, too, for though he was not a very good boy, his heart was in
the right place, and with a little more care he might have been a
different character. There was, however, hope for him.

"You must be punished for this," went on Mr. Rugg, "and this punishment
will be that you are not to have the motor boat I promised you for next
Summer. Perhaps it will be a lesson to you."

Danny wept bitterly, for he had counted very much on having this boat.
But it was a good lesson to him. Mr. Rugg also told the fathers of the
other boys whom he caught with his son, and these boys were punished in
different ways.

Mr. Rugg also informed Mr. Bobbsey how the boathouse had been set
afire, and expressed his sorrow. And so the mystery was cleared