"If," he said, "I am to have no voice in my own defence, then this trial is a farce and the sooner it ends in the murder of two innocent men the better. If the judge did not mean that I could object to the officers you were about to elect, why did he say so? I am simply availing myself of the privilege you grant me, and I can give you still stronger reasons for my opposition to this Frank Shirley, whom I here denounce, as a man without manly courage or honest principle, and wholly unworthy of belief. He is the one man in this territory who will reap wealth from the death of myself and my son; are you willing to let such a man take part in a trial that may seal my doom in his interest?"
The judge was about to make an angry comment on this, but he was prevented by Collins, who pushed his way through the crowd, and said with a flash of the eyes that boded no good to those who opposed him:
"Thar ain't no man in Hurley's Gulch, or out of it either that'll stand before my face, or the face of my pard, Si Brill, and say that either of us don't always tell the right up and down truth. If thar is sich a man har, I'd like him to trot himself out so that I ken git a good square look at him for 'bout three seconds and a half."
As Collins said this, he quickly threw his strong right hand back on the stock of one of his revolvers and took a calm survey of the sea of astonished faces.
If there was any man present who had doubts as to the honesty and veracity of Mr. Collins and his partner, he thought it the part of prudence to keep them to himself, for the present at least.
"Now," continued Collins, after a half minute of painful silence, "I happen to know, and so does my pard, Si Brill, that that sneak, Shirley, who has been tryin' to make friends with the honest men and the mean ones too, in this camp, by keepin' of 'em howlin' drunk, will fall into a big estate over thar in Michigan, if Mr. Willett's son should chance to peg out afore he gits to be old enough to vote in politics. So, for one, I ain't a goin' to stand by and let that cur have anythin' to do with the case. And more than that, you fellers ought to feel ashamed, clar down to your boots, at 'lectin' for sheriff of this court a man who's known in every minin' camp this side of the Sierras as a drunkard, a bummer—yes, and a murderer! that's Badger, and I make the charge right here to his face. If he don't deny it, mebbe some of his new found friends, Jacks, the judge of the court for instance, might like to take it up. If so, I'm just about as ready to back my words now as at any other time."
Again Collins drew himself up and looked about him, with his right hand gripping the stock of his six-shooter.
"See har, Collins," said the judge, speaking in tones intended to be very soothing, "we're not here to fight, but to do our duty as good men——"
"But is it doin' yer duty to tell the prizners they kin object, and then, when one of 'em does so, to try and choke him off, so's to put in an enemy and a sneak as the clerk of this court?"
"Wa'll, Collins, thar's other folks that ken write in this camp," said the judge. "So I'll withdraw Mr. Shirley, and let another be named."