"What busted?" demanded Nuthin. "I bet it was that bottle of raspberry
vinegar my sister put in my knapsack. It's gone sour, and exploded, sure
as anything."

Strange to say, none of the others even bothered laughing at such a
foolish remark as this. They stared at the clear sky overhead, and the
twinkling stars looking down upon them, just as though winking to each
other, and enjoying the confusion of the valiant scouts.

Even Paul, who generally knew everything, seemed mystified.

"I declare if I can tell what it was," he said upon being appealed to by
some of the others in the group. "I was sound asleep, like the rest of
you, when all of a sudden it seemed as if the end of the world had come.
I felt the ground shake under me and as I opened my eyes it seemed as if
I was nearly blinded. The flash came and went just like lightning, and
that bang was what would pass for thunder in a storm; but for the life of
me I can't see any sign of trouble up there."

"And we don't hear anything more; do we?" demanded Jud.

"Sounded like a big cannon to me," remarked Jack.

"Couldn't be that the State troops are out, and having manoeuvres, with a
sham battle, could it?" questioned Gusty Bellows.

"Well, hardly, without somebody knowing about it. And they generally take
up that sort of thing later in the year. There's only one explanation
that sounds a bit reasonable to me," Paul went on.