The constable knocked, and in response to her call to "come in," he entered.
"I heard ye had a little shindig up to here last night, Mrs. Peake, an' I jest called 'round to see what it is all 'bout," said Hank, seating himself. "I see thar was a fire here all right, an' it kim near burning yer buildings down in the bargain. Some says as how it was sot by a passel o' boys. How 'bout that, ma'am?"
"I didn't see anyone," answered the woman. "When I got out Darry here had the fire pretty well under control, and I only helped him finish. You can ask him about it, Mr. Squires."
Darry had already learned through the grocer that previous to her marriage to Abner the good woman had been for some years a teacher in the schools, which fact accounted for her superior language and knowledge of things that were far above the intelligence of most of her neighbors.
The constable looked keenly at our hero.
"I b'lieve this is the boy wot was saved from the wreck o' that brigantine. So he's gwine to be your boy now, Mrs. Peake? Well, I understand he's got the makin' o' a man in him, so Mr. Keeler sez to me last night, and I hope you'll never have no reason to be sorry. I want to know, Darry, what about this here fire?"
"I'll be only too glad to tell you all I know, sir," replied the boy promptly.
"When did it happen?" began the constable, with the air of a famous lawyer, with a bewildered witness on the rack.
"I think it was somewhere near midnight. I have no watch, and Mrs. Peake took the little clock in her room with her."
"That was near the time. It was half-past one when I went back to my bed with my two little girls," remarked the owner of the house.