“Well?” he said with a sneer.
“A coat, you say?”
“Yes, a coat. Maybe you know who hid it; I can guess, myself. That coat was burned some. How do you s'pose it got burned? And say! who used to wear a big white hat round these diggin's? Ah, ha! Who did?”
There was no doubt about the Captain's start this time. He wheeled sharply in his chair, and looked at the speaker.
“Humph!” he exclaimed. “You found that hat, did you?”
“That's what I done! And where do you think I found it? Why, right at the back of my shed where the fire started. And there'd been a pile of shavin's there, too, and there'd been kerosene on 'em. Who smashed the bottle over in the field, hey?”
Captain Eri seemed to be thinking. “Web” evidently set his own interpretation on this silence, for he went on, raising his voice as he did so.
“Did you think I was fool enough not to know who set that fire? I knew the night she burned, and when I met Dr. Palmer jest comin' from your house, and he told me how old Baxter was took sick goin' to the fire—oh, yes, GOIN'—I went up on that hill right off, and I hunted and I found things, and what I found I kept. And what I found when I pulled that burned shed to pieces I kept, too. And I've got 'em yit!”
“You have, hey? Dear! dear!”
“You bet I have! And somebody's goin' to pay for 'em. Goin' to pay, pay, PAY! Is that plain?”