The case was hopeless, and Jim, inwardly raging, gave up the chase and retraced his steps. Joe, who had come to the front of the house to see what had caused Jim’s sudden departure, came forward to meet him.
“What’s the big idea?” Joe asked, in some wonderment.
“The idea,” panted Jim wrathfully, “is that I came near getting my hands on a big rascal and just missed doing it.”
“A rascal?” exclaimed Joe.
“That’s what I said,” replied Jim. “Come to the back of the house and I’ll show you what I mean.”
“All right, Jim.”
“You thought,” said Jim, “that when that pile of lumber came down it was an accident. So did I at first. I thought the scaffold had given way under the weight. But when I glanced at it I saw, as you can see now, that the scaffold hadn’t broken.”
Joe looked and saw that Jim was right.
“You mean—” he began slowly.
“I mean,” said Jim, “that somebody pushed that lumber over the edge of the scaffold. And whoever that somebody was, he meant that the falling lumber should cripple you.”