Having washed up, the boys returned to the scene of the fire.
They found the mill master, Tom Neefus, in earnest conversation
with Mr. Dodge.

"You saw the rascal do it?" asked Snap's father.

"I certainly did," replied Tom Neefus. "I started to catch him,
but then I came back to put out the blaze. I made up my mind
it would be better to stop the fire than catch the man, even though
he was such a villain."

"Who's a villain, father?" asked Shep.

"The man who started this fire."

"Did a man start it?" asked the boy, while several others drew
closer to listen.

"So Mr. Neefus says. He caught the fellow at the office desk.
In a corner the fellow had thrown a pile of shavings and saturated
it with oil. As he ran away he threw a handful of lighted matches
into the shavings and they caught instantly."

"I suppose he did that so that he could get away. He knew the
men around here would try to save the property instead of going
after him."

"Exactly, Charley. He must have been a cold-blooded villain to
do such a thing, for it might have been the means of burning down