at fence?" said Cully, shaking him as a terrier would a rat.

"Why dat fence on de hill."

That was enough for Cully. He had his man. The lie had betrayed him.
Without a word he jerked the cowardly boy from the ground, and marched
him straight into the kitchen:--

"Say, Carl, I got de fire-bug. Ye kin smell der ker'sene on his clo'es."

XIII. MR. QUIGG DRAWS A PLAN

McGaw had watched the fire from his upper window with mingled joy and
fear--joy that Tom's property was on fire, and fear that it would be put
out before she would be ruined. He had been waiting all the evening for
Crimmins, who had failed to arrive. Billy had not been at home since
supper, so he could get no details as to the amount of the damage from
that source. In this emergency he sent next morning for Quigg to make a
reconnaissance in the vicinity of the enemy's camp, ascertain how badly
Tom had been crippled, and learn whether her loss would prevent her
signing the contract the following night. Mr. Quigg accepted the
mission, the more willingly because he wanted to settle certain affairs
of his own. Jennie had avoided him lately,--why he could not tell,--and
he determined, before communicating to his employer the results of his
inquiries about Tom, to know exactly what his own chances were with the
girl. He could slip over to the house while Tom was in the city, and
leave before she returned.

On his way, the next day, he robbed a garden fence of a mass of lilacs,
breaking off the leaves as he walked. When he reached the door of the
big stable he stopped for a moment, glanced cautiously in to see if he
could find any preparations for the new work, and then, making a mental
note of the surroundings, followed the path to the porch.

Pop opened the door. He knew Quigg only by sight--an unpleasant sight,
he thought, as he looked into his hesitating, wavering eyes.

"It's a bad fire ye had, Mr. Mullins," said Quigg, seating himself in
the rocker, the blossoms half strangled in his grasp.

"Yis, purty bad, but small loss, thank God," said Pop quietly.

"That lets her out of the contract, don't it?" said Quigg. "She'll be
short of horses now."

Pop made no answer. He did not intend to give Mr. Quigg any information
that might comfort him.

"Were ye insured?" asked Quigg, in a cautious tone, his eyes on the
lilacs.

"Oh, yis, ivery pinny on what was burned, so Mary tells me."

Quigg caught his breath; the rumor in the village was the oth