The Rival Campers Part 46

They, feeling the eyes of all turned toward them, the awful stillness of the court-room for the moment following the squire's declaration, and oppressed more than ever by the hot, choking atmosphere of the stuffy little court, turned white and red by turns, wished that the floor would open beneath their feet and swallow them, and felt a burning sensation in their throats as though they were stifling.

"And how soon did you see flames coming up from the location of the hotel?"

"I could not say exactly; it might have been half an hour. I was out in the bay in my sloop."

"Had you seen any suspicious characters in the village on that day?"

"I had not."

Then the squire also recounted the events of the pursuit of the yacht _Spray_, the escape through Little Reach, and the subsequent surrender of the boys.

From Squire Barker it was brought out, as in the testimony of the colonel, the fact that after Harvey and his crew in the yacht _Surprise_ had suddenly set sail on the very morning of the fire, they had not been seen nor heard of since. This, the squire admitted, was common knowledge throughout the village.

Then there came to the stand Captain Sam, standing awkwardly, with a hard clutch on the rail in front of him, as if he were afraid of the court-house suddenly dipping and rolling on a breaker and spilling him overboard.

No, he had no objection to removing his tobacco in deference to the Court, and did so; but forgot that august presence before he had been testifying long, and took another and a bigger chew.

Did he know the accused?

Reckoned he did, with a haw-haw that shook the court-room.

Had he pursued them in his sloop the _Nancy Jane_, in an endeavour to serve the warrants?

He had, and they worked their boat like sailors, if he did say it.

"And were you a.s.sisted in your pursuit by Colonel Witham and Squire Brackett?"

"a.s.sisted!" drawled Captain Sam, and grinning from ear to ear. "Well, I dunno how much a.s.sisting you'd be pleased to call it, being as they were sick as a boy that had eaten a peck of green apples, and was sprawling around in the bottom of the boat like a couple of halibut just catched."

Which, being p.r.o.nounced by Captain Sam with the utmost gravity, produced such a decided impression on the audience of fisher-people and sailor-folk, that there was a roar throughout the court-room, at which His Honour announced that any such further interruption would be followed by the clearing of the room.

The squire and the colonel turned red in the face and looked rather foolish, inwardly wis.h.i.+ng that Captain Sam was at the bottom of the bay.

Captain Sam, under further questioning, told again the story of that afternoon's sailing, mentioning casually that the colonel had requested to be set ash.o.r.e when the _Nancy Jane_ was out in the middle of the bay, which request, as Captain Sam explained, there being no land near by excepting that straight down under water, he was unable to grant.

Another t.i.tter through the court-room, the colonel and the squire blus.h.i.+ng redder than ever.

It was embarra.s.sing enough to Captain Sam to tell how he had put the _Nancy Jane_ aground in Little Reach, for he knew there was scarce a man or boy within the sound of his voice who wouldn't vow to himself that, if he had been in Captain Sam's place, he would have known better. It was really mortifying.

Squire Barker made the most of this, not because it could help his clients, but because it served in its way to put one of the people's witnesses in a ridiculous light, and because it gave him a chance to show how smart a cross-examiner he could be, thereby elevating himself in the eyes and admiration of his townsfolk.

"So you got aground where these young men took their boat through all right, did you?" queried Squire Barker.

"I got aground," snapped Captain Sam, sharply.

"And these young men took their boat through safe and sound?"

"I don't know," roared Captain Sam. "I didn't see them."

"But you saw them just a few minutes before that, didn't you?"

"Guess I did."

"And when you got to the entrance they were nowhere in sight, and therefore must have sailed through; they couldn't have dragged the _Spray_ over the rocks?"

"Suppose not."

The colonel and the squire were rather enjoying this, and had plucked up spirits enough to t.i.tter with the rest at the discomfiture of Captain Sam.

"Then you tried to imitate these young men and go through as they did, but you didn't seem to know the channel, and so got aground?"

"Channel!" roared Captain Sam, bellowing out the word in a rage and shaking a fist at the squire. "Channel, did you say? Haven't I told you there wasn't enough channel there to wash a sheep in? Didn't I tell these two thick-headed numskulls"-pointing to the colonel and the squire-"that we'd get aground if we went in there? And didn't they snarl at me like two old women, and accuse me of letting them 'ere boys get away? Didn't I know we'd get aground in there, and didn't these two seasick old p.u.s.s.y-cats make me go ahead and do it?"

Captain Sam, beside himself with indignation, roared this out so his voice could be heard far out in the street. In vain the court rapped for order. The whole court-room was convulsed, and, finally, His Honour, overcome with the situation, leaned back in his chair and laughed too.

Only the colonel and the squire, the b.u.t.t of all the merriment, looked alternately at the floor and the ceiling, and mopped their faces with handkerchiefs as red as their cheeks.

At length, when order was restored, Judge Ellis said: "Captain Sam, you are excused. You are in contempt of court. The case will proceed without testimony from you."

At which Captain Sam, feeling that he had in a measure vindicated his name and reputation, got down from the stand in a somewhat better frame of mind.

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 alongsh.o.r.e 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 a.s.sumed 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 n.o.body seemed to have any appet.i.te.

"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 circ.u.mstantial 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."

But just what there was to fight it out on, not one of them could for the life of him suggest.

The minutes, which seemed like hours, dragged wearily on, and the air in the stuffy little court-house seemed to grow denser and more unendurably stifling. One o'clock. Two o'clock. The hum of returning villagers became more loud. The hour for the resumption of the session was only thirty minutes away.

Suddenly there was the sound of light, quick, nervous footsteps along the hallway, the door was pushed open, and in there bounced a little old lady, whose thin face beamed and flushed with excitement under a bonnet, fas.h.i.+onably but rather youthfully trimmed with bright flowers, dressed in a gown quaintly cut, but giving evidence of the means of the wearer, and bearing on one arm a small basket and in the other hand a chatelaine-bag.

"Why, it's Mrs. Newcome!" exclaimed Mrs. Warren, jumping up excitedly, and glad even of this interruption. "What can have brought you here?"