“Why not?”
“Because they’ll only be more suspicious of you, seeing you knew where the money was kept.”
“Oh, that isn’t anything. I couldn’t very well help knowing, being in the house all the while. But was anything else taken?”
“Yes, some valuable papers.”
“And what about a fire?” asked Joe.
“Well, the deacon says he heard a noise, got up to see what it was, and saw some one getting out of the window near his desk. Whoever it was kicked over the lamp, which exploded. The deacon says he knows you didn’t mean to start the fire.”
“What made him think it was I getting out the window?”
“He didn’t—that is, not at the time. But when he went to call you, and found you weren’t in your room, then he jumped to the conclusion that you had taken the money and papers and climbed out of the window.”
“I didn’t do either,” Joe said. “I went out the door in a hurry when I heard the deacon after me. That is, I thought I heard him. I’m beginning to believe now it was the noise made by the real burglars that frightened me. But is that all the evidence they have against me?”
“No, Hen Sylvester and Tim Donovan saw you running away in the middle of the night, and jump the midnight freight. They chased after you and fired some shots, but you wouldn’t stop.”