“Yes; looking around,” encouraged the coroner, believing from the lad’s appearance and slow manner that he had a dull fellow in hand. “Now, what were you looking around for, Joe?”
“I had a kind of uneasy feeling, and I wanted to see if everything was safe,” said Joe.
“Afraid of horse-thieves, or something like that?”
“Something like that,” nodded Joe.
Mrs. Newbolt, sitting very straight-backed, held her lips tight, for she was impressed with the seriousness of the occasion. Now and then she nodded, as if confirming to herself some foregone conclusion.
“Isom had left me in charge of the place, and I didn’t 141 want him to come back and find anything gone,” Joe explained.
“I see,” said the coroner in a friendly way. “Then what did you do?”
“I went back to the house and lit the lamp in the kitchen,” said Joe.
“How long was that before Isom came in?”
“Only a little while; ten or fifteen minutes, or maybe less.”