“Probably he didn’t,” suggested George. “That’s his right.”
“It may be and it may not be,” retorted John. “I don’t believe he will stand very long on the order of his departure.”
“Why not?”
“Probably he could tell more about how the fire started than any one in the crowd.”
“What do you mean?” demanded George as the three boys stopped and stared into the face of their friend.
“I don’t know just how much I do mean, but we all know that the tramp used the old Meeker House as a sort of headquarters, or at least that he used to stop there nights, and it may be that he was here when the fire first started.”
“Of course he was,” spoke up John. “Don’t you remember that he told me that if we would come over to the house after dinner, we would see something interesting?”
“Well, all I can say is that we came and that we certainly found something interesting,” said George dryly, as the falling timbers crashed into the fire and great showers of sparks fell all about the waiting boys.