"Thet's it, my young friend. It was this way—to tell the plain truth. One night I went to sleep in a barn with my pipe in my mouth. Fust thing I knowed some hay got afire. A man came runnin' to put the fire out, and I had to leg it to git away."
"Was that up between Caswell and Brookville?"
"You've struck it, but—but—what's this to you, anyway?" and now Tom Nolan began to look disturbed.
"It's a good deal to me. That was my uncle's barn, and I was accused of setting it on fire."
"Gee shoo! Yer don't say! Say, I've put my foot into it, ain't I?"
"You certainly have."
"But, say, honest, I—I didn't mean to set the shebang afire—not on my life, I didn't."
"You were smoking, and fell asleep."
"Thet's the honest truth o' the matter, my young friend. I'm a tramp, an' down on my luck, but I ain't no barn burner, not me!"
"Well, you had better come with me," said Nat, decidedly.