There followed several of the hotel guests, who had been duly summonsed to tell what they knew of the early stages of the fire, and whether they had seen any suspicious characters about the hotel or the village on that day. They made it very clear, together with the testimony of some of the villagers, that there had been no strange person seen in the town either on that day or the preceding or the following day, all of which argued, of course, that, if the fire was set, it was set by some one in the town, who was more or less known to every one.
On the other hand, it was definitely established by Squire Barker that Harvey and his crew had set sail in the Surprise while the hotel was still blazing furiously, for there were two of the villagers who lived down the island several miles from the hotel who testified to seeing the Surprise beating down alongshore about daylight.
This was highly important, and yet the one essential thing was lacking, nor could it be supplied by any evidence at hand, that Harvey or any one of his crew had been seen about the hotel that night.
It was noon now, and time for recess. So His Honour announced an adjournment to half-past two that afternoon, and the crowd swarmed out-of-doors, leaving the flies in undisputed possession of the unclean windows.
It was hard for the boys to realize that at last they were under restraint; that they were not free to follow the crowd of villagers and their friends. The seriousness of the situation assumed an even more depressing aspect.
“Do you think he will hold them?” asked Mr. Warren, anxiously, of Squire Barker, as the little party, under the nominal charge of Captain Sam, sat in the anteroom of the court-house, trying to partake of a luncheon which had been provided, but for which nobody seemed to have any appetite.
“Well, I can’t say,” answered the squire, wisely. “But I’m a little afraid of it. I’m just a little afraid. You see, their getting into the hotel and being there just before the fire can’t be denied. And I suppose that His Honour will hold that it was really breaking and entering to get into the hotel in the night-time in the way they did. And then, even though it may have been accidental, the setting the fire, still, as it followed and grew out of their unlawful act, they can be held for setting the hotel on fire.”
This sentence, somewhat involved as it was, but delivered with sageness and an ominous shake of the head, set the boys to breathing hard, and more than one of them found himself swallowing a lump in his throat.
“But there isn’t the slightest evidence that we set the fire,” said young Joe.
“Yes,” answered the squire; “there’s what they call circumstantial evidence, and that is, the fact of your being in there just before it was discovered. It may not be enough to convict on, but the question that’s bothering now is, will it be enough to hold you over on, and I’m bound to say it does look just a little bad. However, we won’t give up. We’ll fight it out to the last.”