“We will see that the witness keeps within proper limits,” said the judge; then, turning to Tom, “Go on, sir.”
“Well, you see,” said Tom, “it was all just as I told it; only when I got to the bottom o’ the hill, an’ see that man go by me in the dark, I was s’prised like, an’ I stopped an’ listened. An’ then I heard a noise in under the loadin’-place, an’ then that man,” pointing his trembling forefinger to Rennie, “came out, a-kind o’ talkin’ to himself. An’ he said that was the last job o’ that kind he’d ever do; that they put it on him ’cause he hadn’t anybody to feel bad over him if he should get catched at it.
“An’ then I see a blaze start up right where he come from, an’ it got bigger an’ bigger. An’ then he turned an’ see me, an’ he grabbed me by the shoulders, an’ he said, ‘Don’t you speak nor whisper, or I’ll take the life o’ ye,’ or somethin’ like that; I can’t quite remember, I was so scared. An’ then he pushed me down the track, an’ he said, ‘Run as fast as ever you can, an’ don’t you dare to look back.’
“An’ I run, an’ I didn’t look back till the fire was a-burnin’ up awful; an’ then I went with the rest to look at it; an’ he was there, an’ a-workin’ desperate to save things, an’—an’—an’ that’s all.”
Tom stopped, literally panting for breath. The jurors were leaning forward in their seats to catch every word, and over among the crowded benches, where the friends of the prisoner were gathered, there was a confused hum of voices, from which, now and then, rose angry and threatening words.
Rennie sat gazing intently upon Tom, as though fascinated by the boy’s presence, but on his face there was no sign of disappointment or anger; only the same look of admiration that had come there when Tom returned the money.
He clutched Pleadwell’s sleeve, and said to him,—
“That settles it, mon; that settles it. The spirit o’ the dead father’s i’ the lad, an’ it’s no use o’ fightin’ it. I’ll plead guilty noo, an’ end it, an’ tak ma sentence an’ stan’ it. How long’ll it be, think ye?”
“Twenty years in the Penitentiary,” answered Pleadwell, sharply and shortly.