Upon the staircase he passed a window and, glancing through it, he saw a light in the hackling shop.  It was not the moon and meant a presence there that needed instant explanation.  Mr. Best forgot his toothache, called his sailor son, who happened to be holiday-making at home, and hastened as swiftly and silently as possible over the bridge to the Mill.  John Best the younger, an agile man of thirty, may be said to have saved the situation, for he was far quicker than his father could be and managed to anticipate the disaster by moments.  Half a minute more might have made all the difference, for the heap of loose hemp and stricks once ignited, no power on earth could have saved a considerable conflagration; but the culprit had his back turned to the window and was still busily piling the tow when Best and his son looked in upon him, and the sailor was already half through the window before Abel perceived him.  The youngster dashed for his candle, but he was too late, a pair of strong hands gripped his neck roughly enough, and he fainted from the shock.

They took him out as he had gone in, for the door was locked and Levi Baggs had the key.  Then the sailor went back to his home, dressed himself and started for a policeman, while Mr. Best kept guard over Abel.

When he came to his senses, the boy found himself in the moonlight with a dozen turns of stout fisherman’s twine round his hands and ankles The foreman stood over him, and now that the house was roused, his wife had brought John a pair of trousers and a great coat, for he was in his night shirt.

“You’ll catch your death,” she said.

“It’s only by God’s mercy we didn’t all catch our death,” he answered.  “Here’s Sabina Dinnett’s boy plotted to destroy the works, and we’ve yet to find whether he’s the tool of others, or has done the deed on his own.”

“On my own I did it,” declared Abel; “and I’ll do it yet.”

“You shut your mouth, you imp of Satan!” cried the exasperated man.  “Not a word, you scamp.  You’ve done for yourself now, and everybody knew you’d come to it, sooner or later.”

In half an hour Abel was locked up, and when Mr. Baggs heard next morning concerning the events of the night, he expressed the utmost surprise and indignation.

“Young dog!  And after the friend I’ve been to him.  Blood will tell.  That’s his lawless father coming out in the wretch,” he said.

CHAPTER IX

THE FUTURE OF ABEL

Issues beyond human sight or calculation lay involved in the thing that Abel Dinnett had done.  He had cast down a challenge to society, and everything depended on how society answered that challenge.  Not only did the child’s own future turn on what must follow, but vital matters for those who were called to act hung on their line of action.  That, however, they could not know.  The tremendous significance of the sinner’s future training and the result of what must now happen to him lay far beyond their prescience.