fire to the hay stacks," went on
Ray Blake. "He fixed it so suspicion wouldn't fall on him, as he was
away from the farm at the time. He used a sort of chemical fuse that
would cause the fire several hours after it was set.

"After I met Tom, and got the money, and told him about the prospective
hay fire," said Ray, "I sneaked back to the farm to get what few
clothes I owned. Jake Crouse was waiting for me, and when he found out
I was going to run away, and that I had some money, he threatened to
implicate me in the burning of the hay. He had me in his power and I
didn't dare--or at least I thought I didn't dare--refuse him. So I
stayed on, and he got most of my money over cards. He wasn't suspected
of the fire, and I never knew Tom was, or I'd have made a clean breast
of everything.

"Well, things went from bad to badness. Appleby got worse toward us
instead of better, and Crouse said he'd teach him a lesson. I
suspected he would do something desperate so I made up my mind to get
away. I laid my plans carefully, and, ashamed as I was, I decided to
ask Tom for more money.

"I appealed to him, and he answered. He gave me all he could spare,
and more too, I guess and I promised to reform. I made him promise he
would never say anything about me, and he didn't. As much on his
mother's account as mine, I guess, for my mother and his were sisters,
and I knew my aunt would be broken-hearted if she knew how much I'd
gone to the bad.

"Well, to make a long story short Tom fixed me up--he even gave me his
sweater when I sneaked up and called on him in this dormitory, for I
was cold and hadn't many clothes--and I lit out. I guess I must have
made some wild threats against Appleby before I left, for he had
treated me mean."

"You did make all sorts of wild declarations," put in Tom, "and it was
that which made me fear you had poisoned the horses when it was known
that they had been given cyanide."

"But I didn't," said Ray. "I ran off that night, and later, as I
passed by the barn, carrying Tom's sweater, I saw Jake Crouse going in
with a package and a bottle. I got scared and ran as fast as I could,
fearing he would see me and force me to have a hand in the crime. But
I got away, though I dropped Tom's sweater, and didn't dare go back for
it.

"I went to New York, and I've been there ever since, until recently. I
stayed with a man I had known in the West, but I never knew Tom was in
such trouble on my a