“Not guilty,” replied Oscar, faintly.
The Squire now requested the complainant to produce his evidence against the accused. Mr. Upham commenced with an account of the stealing of his pears by Oscar and Jerry, and the punishment which followed that adventure. He said he had been threatened with vengeance for causing the boys to be whipped, and he had reason to believe that the burning of his wood was the result of this grudge against him.
The witnesses were now brought forward. The first was a boy, who testified that he heard Oscar say, with an oath, that he would yet come up with Mr. Upham for the flogging he gave him. A young man, who worked on a farm, was then called up, and testified, that whenever the pear-stealing scrape was mentioned to Oscar, he would get mad, and threaten to be revenged on Mr. Upham. The third witness was Clinton, who testified, that one afternoon, a short time before the fire, while he was at work mending a stone-wall on his father’s land, near the scene of the conflagration, Oscar and Jerry came along, and the former asked several questions about the location of Mr. Upham’s wood-lot, and particularly inquired if he owned a certain lot of corded wood, which Oscar described, and which was the same lot that was afterwards burnt. The fourth and last witness, was a man who testified that he was in the upper part of the town on the afternoon of the fire, and, a short time before the alarm was given, saw Oscar and Jerry, coming very fast from the direction of Mr. Upham’s lot.
The Squire wrote down the testimony as it was given. When it was concluded, he told Oscar he was at liberty to make any remarks or produce any evidence that he saw fit. Oscar, somewhat perplexed, turned to his uncle, and after some conversation between them, in a low tone, Mr. Preston remarked to the Squire, that he thought the evidence against Oscar was altogether too trivial to be worthy of serious notice. There was not, he said, the least proof that Oscar set the wood on fire. He thought Mr. Upham had magnified a foolish, boyish threat into a matter of very grave importance; and he expressed his opinion, very decidedly, that the prisoner ought to be released forthwith.
The Squire said he would defer his decision until the other prisoner had been examined. Oscar was then conducted from the room and Jerry was brought in. He appeared even more pale and excited than his cousin. The Squire addressed him in pretty much the same strain of remark as he did Oscar; but before he commenced reading the complaint, Jerry began to sob, and with broken and choked utterance, said:—
“Yes, I was there, and saw him do it, but I didn’t have any hand in it myself.”
“That is right, my son,” said the Squire, in an encouraging tone; “tell us all you know about it, just as it happened, and it will be better for you than though you attempted to deceive us. You say you ‘saw him do it’—whom do you mean?”
“Oscar.”
“Well, go on with the story, and tell us all the particulars,” said the Squire.
Jerry then related the history of the fire. Oscar, it seemed, had formed the plan of burning the wood, several days previous, and he regarded it as a sort of joint operation, in which Jerry and he were to share the fun, the gratification, and the risk. It appeared, however, from Jerry’s story, that though he had entered into the plan, he did not actually apply the match, nor assist in the immediate preparations for the fire. He was present rather as a spectator than an actor.