Though a big, strong fellow, the foreman was trembling when he rose to his feet, and he tried to cough behind his hand several times before he could get control of his voice. At length he managed to say:
"We find that the two prizners is——"
Here he stopped and coughed again, and he undoubtedly would have sat down without finishing the sentence had not the judge shouted:
"Wa'al, the prizners is what?"
"Guilty!" came the reply.
On hearing this Badger tried to lead a cheer with the help of the judge, but as the farce was not yet over, some one cursed him and told him to "shut up."
"I don't well see how you could fotch in any other vardict," began the judge. "Fact is, you couldn't have did it and continued to live among the people at Hurley's Gulch that's in for law and order and fair play; so I say you've all done yer duty nobly like good feller citizens."
This opinion met with some applause; then the judge turned to Mr. Willett and Hank, and in a voice intended to be very solemn, as it certainly was very hoarse, he called out:
"Presners at the bar stand up!"
The two men rose, and Mr. Willett cast a quick glance over the crowd in the hope of seeing the friendly faces of Collins and his partner, Si Brill, but they were not in sight.