Hagle hung his head, but Zorn spoke as steadily as before.
“No; Jack made some motions, but I stopped him. Don’t need to tell me it was near your camp. I saw that. Yes, and I knew it was on my father’s land. And if you’d like the whole truth, you can have it. All along I’d been letting appearances count against you fellows. Well, here was just another chance of the same sort. I figured the fire couldn’t do much damage in almost a calm, and probably you could put it out when you happened along. But the burned-over place would make a fine exhibit to show to my father, to prove the danger of having campers in the woods.... Anything more you’d like to know?”
“Yes, there’s a million things!” cried Step impetuously. “You—you tell us——”
Sam stopped him with a sharp, “Wait a minute, Step!” then turned to Zorn.
“You’ve gone out of your way to cause us a lot of trouble. What was all the scheming for?”
There was frank surprise in Zorn’s face. “Why, I told you once, Parker! Didn’t you understand? I wanted your backing—your club’s backing. I couldn’t get it by favor, so I tried to capture it by force.”
Sam recalled Lon’s suggestion. “You thought you’d work a sort of crooked political game on us, didn’t you?”
“That’s it!” shrilled Jack Hagle. “Ed always is talking about stories he’s heard about political tricks!”
There was light enough to see the red come into Zorn’s cheeks.
“Well, hasn’t a fellow got to have some interest in life?” he demanded. “And if I have heard how things are worked, why shouldn’t I make use of the hints? Politics? Why, yes—if you want to call it that.”