you what—I’m mighty glad you lads came along,” panted the old man, when he was safe. “I couldn’t have held out much longer. This is something terrible, ain’t it? Say, would you mind hooking that boat fast and pulling it to shore? It belongs to me, and I ain’t so wealthy that I can afford to lose it. Besides, it’s got some of my things in it.”
“We’ll take it along unless it keeps us back too much,” answered Jack. And then he bent down, got hold of the bowline of the 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 emphatically.
“Gee! do you suppose there were German spies around?” ejaculated Randy.
“I am sure there were,” went on the old dockman.
“But I supposed your guards kept all strangers away from the plant,” said Jack.
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