"'COME ON QUICK, PLUMS! DAN'S SET THE BARN A-FIRE.'"
"It would be a sore job for him if he did. Look out for the princess, an' I'll snoop 'round to see what he's doin'."
Joe went through the shed door, which led out of the garden, but could see no one. If the amateur detective had not gone inside the barn, he must be loitering at the further end, where he was screened from view of any one on either side the building.
"If I go 'round there, he'll think it's because I'm 'fraid he'll make trouble for us, an' that's what would please him," Joe said to himself.
Then, passing through the shed, he looked out of the door on the opposite side.
No one could be seen from this point, and he returned to the garden just as Dan came out from around the corner of the barn, running at full speed towards a grove, situated a mile or more from the main road.
"What have you been doin' 'round here?" Joe shouted, angrily, and the amateur detective halted long enough to say:
"You think you're mighty smart, Joe Potter, but you'll find there are some folks that can give you points. What I've done to you this time ain't a marker 'longside of what it'll be when I try my hand again."