Part 5 (1/2)
”I mean to.”
”Haven't you done it already?”
”I didn't say I had,” answered Ben, who was evidently debating with himself whether he should admit Harry to his confidence.
”But didn't you set the barn afire?”
”What if I did?”
”Why, I should say you run a great risk.”
”I don't care for that.”
”I see the reason now, why you wouldn't tell me what you was going to do before.”
”We are in for it now, Harry. I meant to pay off the squire, and--”
”Then you did set the barn afire?”
”I didn't say so; and, more than that, I don't mean to say so. If you can see through a millstone, why, just open your eyes--that's all.”
”I am sorry you did it, Ben.”
”No whining, Harry; be a man.”
”I mean to be a man; but I don't think there was any need of burning the barn.”
”I do; I couldn't leave Redfield without squaring accounts with Squire Walker.”
”Where are you going, Ben?”
”To Boston, of course.”
”How shall we get there?”
”We will go by the river, as far as we can; then take to the road.”
”But this is George Leman's boat--isn't it?”
”Yes.”
”You hooked it?”
”Of course I did; you don't suppose I should mind trifles at such a time as this! But he can have it again, when I have done with it.”
”What was the use of taking the boat?”
”In the first place, don't you think it is easier to sail in a boat than to walk? And in the second place, the river runs through the woods for five or six miles below Pine Pleasant; so that no one will be likely to see us. We shall get off without being found out.”
”But the river is not deep enough. It is full of rocks about three miles down.”
”We won't mind them. We can keep her clear of the rocks well enough.