“If he does our knives fall on him and you. Pour!”
Robinson poured. All their fierce eyes were fixed on the experiment. He meant to pour a drop or two, but the man behind him jogged his arm, and half the acid in the bottle fell upon Walker's dust.
A quantity of smoke rose from it, and the particles fizzed and bubbled under the terrible test.
“Trash! a rope—no! dig a hole and bury him—no! fling him off the rock into the water.”
“Silence!” roared Robinson, “I am the judge, and it is for me to pronounce the verdict.”
“Silence! hear Judge Lynch!” Silence was not obtained for five minutes, during which the court was like a forest of wild beasts howling.
“I condemn him to be exposed all day, with his dust tied round his neck, and then drummed out of the camp.”
This verdict was received first with a yell of derisive laughter, then with a roar of rage.
“Down with the judge!”
“We are the judges!”