out the
destruction of the boat-house, or Noddy's absence during the forenoon.

After dinner, Noddy followed the old man down to the pier by the river
in a state of anxiety which hardly permitted him to keep up the cheerful
expression he had assumed, and which he usually wore. They reached the
smouldering ruins of the building, but Ben took no notice of it, and did
not allude to the great event which had occurred. Noddy was inclined to
doubt whether the boat-house had been burned at all; and he would have
rejected the fact, if the charred remains of the house had not been
there to attest it.

Ben hobbled down to the pier, and stepped on board the Greyhound, which
he had hauled up to the shore to enable him to make some repairs on the
mainsail. Noddy followed him; but he grew more desperate at every step
he advanced, for the old man still most provokingly refused to say a
single word about the fire.

"Gracious!" exclaimed Noddy, suddenly starting back in the utmost
astonishment; for he had come to the conclusion, that if Ben would not
speak about the fire, he must.

The old boatman was still vicious, and refused even to notice his
well-managed exclamation. Noddy thought it was very obstinate of Ben not
to say something, and offer him a chance, in the natural way, to prove
his innocence.

"Why, Ben, the boat-house is burned up!" shouted Noddy, determined that
the old man should have no excuse for not speaking about the fire.

Ben did not even raise his eyes from the work on which he was engaged.
He was adjusting the palm on his hand, and in a moment began to sew as
though nothing had happened, and no one was present but himself. Noddy
was fully satisfied now that the boatman was carrying out the details of
some plot of his own.

"Ben!" roared Noddy, at the top of his lungs, and still standing near
the ruins.

"What do you want, Noddy?" demanded Ben, as good-naturedly as though
everything had worked well during the day.

"The boat-house is burned up!" screamed Noddy, apparently as much
excited as though he had just discovered the fact.

Ben made no reply, which was another evidence that he was engaged in
working out some deep-laid plot, perhaps to convict him of the crime,
by some trick. Noddy was determined not to be convicted if he could
possibly help it.

"Ben!" shouted he again.

"Well, Noddy, what is it?"

"Did you _know_ the boat-house was burned up?"

There was no answer; and Noddy ran down to the