"Danny!" exclaimed his father sternly, "what does this mean?""We - were - playing!" stammered Danny."Playing hide and seek." "And to play that is it necessary to smoke?" Mr.Rugg asked sharply."We - we aren't smoking," answered Danny.
"Not now, but you have been.I can smell it plainly.Go into the house, Danny, and these other boys must go home.If I find them smoking in my barn again I shall punish them.You might have set it on fire."Danny had nothing to say, indeed, there was little he could say.He had been caught in the act.
The other boys slunk off, and Danny went into the house, his father following.
"Danny, I am very sorry to learn this," said Mr.Rugg."I did not know that you smoked - a boy of your age!""Well, 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 nextSummer.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 up.
