second growth.

Presently even these noises died away and a dead silence reigned. By
then, Bud managed to regain possession of his voice.

"Oh, another terrible meteor! Why, we must be right in the middle
of a shower of shooting stars! And let me tell you, that one hit the
earth not a great way off, too! I'm going to take a look in the
morning and see if I can find it. They say that college professors
often pay big sums for being set on the track of these meteors that
bury themselves in the ground. What if she had dropped right down
on top of this shanty, boys? I'm glad we got off as well as we did,
aren't you, Hugh?"

Hugh did not answer. Evidently he was thinking deeply at that
particular moment. There was indeed plenty to concern him in
connection with the mysterious aeroplane that nightly circled the
region, always accompanied by that strange explosion.

"Seems to me I can smell something queer like burnt powder," Bud
presently remarked. "Do meteors explode when they hit the earth,
Hugh?" And would they send out a rank odor like that?"

"I don't happen to be up in the doings of meteors, Bud," answered
the other, "but I should think it might be something like that.
We'll all take a look after breakfast, and see what we can find.
Perhaps it may surprise us. This seems to be a general all-around
surprise party for the lot of us. We were taken aback to find
Ralph here in the old shack; he had his surprise when he watched
those two men carry on so queerly; then we had the shock last
night of hearing thunder and seeing lightning when the sky was
clear; after that, the fellow looking in at the window startled
us. You were a little surprised your self, I reckon, Bud, at
your success in trying out your stability device as applied to
aeroplanes. And now comes the discovery that one of the air craft
is skimming around here nightly, doing some stunt that we can't
understand yet."

"We ought to call this Camp Surprise, then," announced Ralph.

"That's what," echoed Bud.

"Now let us go in again," suggested Hugh. "It seems as if the
fireworks might be all over for this particular night. Even the
aeroplane has gone off where none of us can hear the motor working
any longer."

"Perhaps she dropped to the ground," remarked Bud. "There might be
another open place not far away, like the old field where we tried
out my little model this morning. And say, doesn't it strike you
as funny that just one soli