“I have been going through the newspapers for the past weeks,” continued Paul.
“What for?” asked Jack.
“I was looking up the fire reports. In the past two months there have been four fires, one each two weeks or so.”
“What about it?” Jack wanted to know.
“Can’t you fellows see for yourselves?” asked Paul, irritated by their indifference. “Don’t you think that in a small town such as this, a fire every two weeks is very much above the average?”
“Say,” cried Ken, “you have hit upon something. Come to think of it, that is a pretty high average.”
“But what has that to do with the story?” asked Jack.
“Simply this,” answered Paul. “Under normal conditions, there would not be such frequent fires. In other words, all the fires of the past two months may or may not have been caused accidentally.”
“You don’t think yesterday’s fire was an accident?” questioned William.