Of all the group only one seemed to doubt his guilt. He overheard Blenkins, the merchant, say to Jim Dow,—
"It's mighty hard to b'lieve this story on this 'ere boy; he's a manly looking, straight-for'ard little chap, an' he's got honest eyes in his head, too."
"He'd a deal better hev an honest heart in his body," drawled Jim Dow, who was convinced that Barney had aided in the burglary.
When they had gone around to the window with the broken pane, Barney looked up at it in great anxiety. If only it should prove too small for him to slip through! Certainly it seemed very small.
He had pulled off his coat and stood ready to jump.
"Up with you!" said Stebbins.
The boy laid both hands on the sill, gave a light spring, and went through the pane like an eel.
"That settles it!" he heard Stebbins saying outside. And all the idlers were laughing because it was done so nimbly.
"That boy's right smart of a fool," said one of the lookers-on. "Now, if that had been me, I'd hev made out to git stuck somehows in that winder; I'd have scotched my wheel somewhere."
"Ef ye hed, I'd have dragged ye through ennyhow," declared Jim Dow, who had no toleration of a joke on a serious subject. "This hyar boy air a deal too peart ter try enny sech fool tricks on Me!"