My father just went on and said, “I want you to tell Mr. Slausen and anybody else who comes here with him that you didn’t do that and that you weren’t near his place. There’s nothing to be afraid of if you tell the truth.” My sister said, “I hope you’re not going to let those men come in the parlor. Ugh!” I just sat there, kind of saying _parlor, parlor, parlor_ to myself. I didn’t know _what_ to say. My father looked at me kind of funny. Then I said, “I don’t see what it’s got to do with us, anyway, because the fire didn’t happen till two or three hours after——” Then I stopped. “After what, Roy?” my father said. “After the time he said we were in there,” I kind of blurted out. My father said, “That hasn’t anything to do with it. The point is that you weren’t there at all. There’s the beginning and the end of it. This man thinks you boys did the only thing you could do to get his old shop out of the way. He doesn’t know anything about scouts. There was a motive. That’s enough for him. And he thinks a couple of you sneaked into his place after dark and set fire to it. Now you didn’t, did you?” “No, we didn’t,” I said, good and loud. “Well, then,” my father said, “that’s all there is to it.” CHAPTER XVII—SUSPENSE That was the worst morning I ever spent. I didn’t know what to do or what to say. But one thing I was sure of, and that was that I wasn’t going to break my word no matter what happened. Because what’s the use of having any law one if it doesn’t mean what it says? I kept wishing that those men would hurry up and come so the thing would be over with. I went out and sat on the steps of our garage and talked with James; he’s our chauffeur. And all the while I kept looking off down the road to see if those men were coming. I felt awful funny. No matter what I did I couldn’t stick to it. I felt kind of the same way as I feel just before examinations in school. I started picking dandelions on the lawn just so as to keep busy. Then I went around to the porch and sat in the swing seat and tried to read, but I couldn’t. After a while I saw a car coming up the hill and I knew it was the police car. I guess there wasn’t much left of Mr. Slausen’s car. I saw Chief O’Day in the car—I could tell him on account of his uniform—and there were several others, too. Now that I saw them I wasn’t so nervous as I was before, because I knew it would soon be over with. When they got out I saw there were five people—Chief O’Day, Mr. Slausen, another man, Westy and his father. I was kind of nervous when I saw them coming up the gravel walk, but, anyway, it kind of helped me to feel sure of myself. Chief O’Day said, “Well, sir, your father home?” I gave one look at Westy and then I didn’t feel afraid any more at all. I knew he thought the same as I did, and I said to myself that no matter what happened we’d stick together. My father took us all in the library and I stood in front of the mantelpiece.