craft, and tied
it fast to their stern. Fortunately the other boat was a small one, so
they had not much difficulty in towing it along.

"I'm a dockman over at the ammunition factory," explained the old man.
"And when things began to go off I thought it was high time to get
out. I tried to save a few of my things and dumped 'em into my boat
and began to pull for the shore. But then one of the big explosions
went off, and I got caught in a lot of smoke and a rain of I don't
know what, and was nearly rendered senseless. When I came to, I had
drifted along to near where you found me. Something must have hit the
boat and gone through the bottom, for she was filling with water fast.
Then she tipped, and I went overboard. I can't swim very well, and
that confounded smoke got in my lungs, and I thought sure I would be a
goner. You boys certainly came in the nick of time."

"And we are glad of it," declared Fred, and the others nodded in
approval.

The elderly man said that his name was Jed Kessler, and that he lived
on the outskirts of Haven Point. He knew very little about Colby
Hall, however, for previous to being employed by the Hasley Shell
Loading Company he had worked around the docks at Hixley, at one end
of the lake. So much the boys learned from him when they had rowed out
of the pall of smoke and the rain of fire and could breathe freely and
in comfort.

"Have you any idea what started that fire?" questioned Jack, when they
were headed for one of the docks at Haven Point.

"I've got my idea, yes. But I don't know whether it's correct or not,"
replied Jed Kessler. "Of course, any kind of a slight accident in a
place like that might set things to going. But I know one thing, and
that is very important, I think."

"What is that?" questioned Randy.

"The first explosion took place down the railroad track, in one of the
cars loaded with shells, while the second explosion, which came less
than half a minute later, occurred in one of the supply houses."

"Was the supply house near the car where the first explosion
happened?" queried Jack.

"No. The two places are at least five hundred feet apart."

"In that case, it isn't likely that the first explosion brought on
the second, is it?" questioned Andy.

"It didn't!" was the prompt answer. "Those two explosions had nothing
to do with each other--except in one way,--and that is that they were
both started by the same person or persons," declared Jed Kessler
empha