“Who said we set Veek's barn afire?” he asked, and he was pretty mad. But I wasn't; I was just scared. It's incenderyism, or something like that, if you set a barn afire, and you get sent to reform school for life.
“Who said it? I didn't say it,” said Toady. “You said it. You and George said you did.”
Well, of course I hadn't been lying when I told Toady and Swatty and Bony how I had set Dad Veek's barn afire, but I had just been fooling. So I said:
“Aw! I never said no such thing! I never either said I set it afire. Swatty said he set it afire. I couldn't have set it afire, because I was sitting on my bed when it got afire.”
So Swatty got mad. I guess he wanted to lick somebody, but he didn't know whether to lick me or to lick Toady.
“Aw! I never either said I set it afire!” he said. “If anybody set it afire George did, because I was home, putting arnica on me, when the fire started.”
“Well, you said you did,” I said. “You said so right up in my room. You did so.”
“I did not! You said you did.”
“I did not! I never said anything like it. If anybody said he set Veek's barn afire, Swatty said it.”
“Aw! I did not!” Swatty said. “You said it. You said it. You said you took a torch, and went around to the far side and set the barn afire. I heard you say it. And you said I couldn't have set the barn afire because you had it all afire before I got there. Didn't he say that, Toady?”