We were--er--going to roll the barrels down to the lake--going to hide 'em so that Ditmore and his friends couldn't find 'em, you know.

Well, we didn't want to get the tar on our hands, so we--er--started a little fire to see by--it was dark under the trees.
All of a sudden the barrels blazed up.

We--er--didn't expect such a big blaze." "That's it," cried Coulter, eagerly.

"We just made the fire at first to see by." "Then you didn't really want to fire the barrels under the trees ?" "No, sir," came from both of the guilty ones.
"It was a rash thing to do, to start such a blaze.

In this wind you might have burnt down the whole woods and endangered the school buildings." "I don't believe Ritter and Coulter," whispered Andy to Pepper.
"Neither do I," was the reply.
"Ditmore, you said the barrels belonged to you ?" went on the owner of the school.
"Yes, sir.