“She didn’t set the barn on fire, sir,” defended Harriet Burrell.
“The fires from the skies made the barn burn,” announced the Gipsy woman.
“Who are you?” demanded the man, turning sharply to Harriet. “I suppose you will tell me you weren’t sleeping in my barn?”
“On the contrary, we were,” interjected Miss Elting.
“Then I arrest the whole parcel of you.”
“Thave me!” wailed Tommy Thompson. “We didn’t thet your old barn on fire. We were jutht thleeping there, that wath all.”
“You will all stay here till I get through with this fire; then I’ll hold court on you and if you don’t answer to suit me I’ll have you all over to the county seat to-morrow.”
“No one set your barn on fire, sir,” declared Harriet, with emphasis. “The barn was struck by lightning.”
“Did you see it?”
“I can’t say that I saw the lightning strike, but I saw the flash, then saw the fire start up directly afterwards. I heard this woman scream and we hurried to her rescue. She was unconscious. The bolt had nearly killed her. That proves that it was lightning, not matches, that set your barn on fire.”