“I think Ruddy and Ditmore are guilty. They were smoking and they set the building on fire, perhaps by accident.”
“Mr. Crabtree, there isn’t a word of truth in that!” cried Jack, his temper rising.
“Ha! don’t contradict me!” cried Josiah Crabtree.
“But we shall contradict you,” said Pepper. “We have not been smoking, neither have we been drinking.”
“But you were down to the old boathouse,” put in Captain Putnam.
“We admit that,” said Jack. “We went down there for a certain purpose.”
“What was that purpose?”
“I can’t tell you, exactly.”
“We were looking for some other students,” said Pepper. “Some fellows who are enemies of ours.”
“Did you find them?”