There were a couple of cops down there in front of the desk. Mr. Brownell was down there, too. He’s public persecutor, or whatever they call him. His son’s in my class. The recorder just kept on reading the papers while we all stood there. The kid was good and scared, I guess.
Pretty soon the recorder laid down the papers and said, “Are you Roy Blakeley?”
I said, “Yes, sir.” Gee, I was trembling a little.
Then he said, “Are you Wesleigh Martin?”
Westy said, “Yes, sir.”
Then he looked kind of funny and he said. “And who is this boy?”
I was kind of nervous, all right, but I spoke up. I said, “This is the one who set fire to Mr. Slausen’s repair shop. He didn’t do it on purpose, so——”
The judge said, “What do you mean?”
I pulled out of my pocket the big box of matches and the book about Sam and his submarine, and I laid them on the judge’s desk. All around I could just kind of feel people staring and moving in their seats.
I said, “We found traces of him in our car—we found match ends and cigarettes. And we tracked him to Mr. Slausen’s shop.”