Then the colonel detailed, so far as he knew them, the events of the night of the fire; how he was first aroused by the cry of “Fire!” and how the first persons he encountered—within his very hotel, in fact—were the accused; how the smoke was even then pouring up from the basement windows, and that upon investigation he had found the whole basement floor to be on fire, so that it was already far beyond control.
Then there followed a detailed account of the fire, of the destruction of this section and that, and, finally, the utter collapse and ruin of the entire structure, with all that it had contained. The colonel did the scene full justice in his description, making an unmistakable impression on the minds of the assembled townsfolk.
Asked if he had seen any suspicious characters in or about the hotel on the day or night of the fire, the colonel said he had not; nor had any stranger who had not been subsequently accounted for come ashore from the steamers on that day.
Leaving at length the subject of the fire, County Attorney Perkins came down to the subject of the attempt to serve the warrants upon the boys at the camp and at the Warren cottage, the failure, the subsequent pursuit of the boys down the bay in the Nancy Jane, and the final surrender of the yacht Spray in the middle of the bay.
It was clear that this part of the evidence would have great weight with the court. After the attorney’s questions he put several of his own, regarding the escape from Little Reach, and whether it must have been clear to the boys in the yacht that they were being pursued.
It was this testimony that made Mr. Warren breathe hardest, and put his hand to his head with a troubled look.
Squire Barker’s cross-examination was brief, but he made two telling points, which might have their influence. One was, that the boys had been very brave on the night of the fire, and had undoubtedly saved many lives. This the colonel reluctantly had to admit. The other, and far more important point, was the bringing out that early on the morning of the fire the colonel had seen that the yacht Surprise was absent from her moorings, whereas the colonel had seen her lying there the afternoon preceding.
“Was it not common talk in the village that Harvey and his crew were missing the very morning after the fire?” inquired Squire Barker.
“It was,” answered the colonel.
“And did you not see all of the accused about the village for the entire day following the fire?”