Chief O’Day said, “Mr. Blakeley, your boy and this other boy seem to be mixed up in the fire that destroyed Mr. Slausen’s shop last night.” My father just said, “Indeed?” The chief said, “These two boys were seen climbing out of a window of the shop after dark last night. They were anxious to have the shop out of their way——” My father just said, “Oh, yes, I know all about that. We’d like to have a good many things out of our way. Let us get down to facts. Who saw these boys? That’s the point.” Mr. Slausen said, “This young man is a friend of mine, Mr. Blakeley. He has worked for me. His name is Conroy. He saw your boy and this other youngster climb out of the side window of my place last night. This other youngster refuses to say anything.” The chief said, “Of course you realize these boys have to give an account of themselves, Mr. Blakeley. Maybe this young fellow here is mistaken about seeing them, but——” “He isn’t mistaken,” I said. I could just hear my own voice as if I was speaking all alone in the world, and I was awful nervous. “Westy and I climbed out of that window after dark last night, but we didn’t set fire to the place and we never thought about such a thing.” “_You were there?_” my father said. Gee, he seemed to be all flustered. “What do you mean? You mean you were in Mr. Slausen’s shop after the place had been closed up and came out through a side window?” I just said, “Yes, sir.” For about half a minute nobody spoke at all, only Mr. Slausen kept drumming with his fingers on the arm of the chair. Then the chief said, “What were you doing there?” “I won’t tell you,” I said. My father said, very sober like, “What do you mean, Roy? You won’t tell? This is a very serious matter. Tell Mr. O’Day what you went there for.” I didn’t say anything; I just stood there. My father just said, very anxious, “Well?” The chief said, “You don’t want to rub up against the law, my boy.” I said, “If you think you can scare me, you can’t. There are different laws. Maybe there are some that you don’t know anything about——” Just then I heard footsteps on the porch and then the doorbell rang. CHAPTER XVIII—MR. ELLSWORTH CALLS That was Mr. Ellsworth, our scoutmaster. I guess he had heard all about it. I guess the whole town knew about it by that time. Trust them for that. He just sat down very quietly and listened. It made me feel good to see him there. My father said, “I suppose you know about this, Mr. Ellsworth?” Mr. Ellsworth said, “Why, yes, in a general way.” “You knew the boys were at the garage?” my father asked him. He said, “N—no, I didn’t know that. Have they found out how the fire started?” “_Started?_” Mr. Slausen said, good and loud. “Can’t you see how it started? You’re the instigator of this car moving business, I suppose?” Mr. Ellsworth said, awful funny, “Yes, I’m the evil genius.” “And I understand fires are part of this scout rigmarole,” Mr. Slausen said.