“But, Your Honor,” he gasped, “those men are the prisoner’s especial friends!”
“Exactly. That’s why they’ll find that calf. Results are what I’m after, and I don’t care a hang about methods.” He frowned. “Look here, Mr. Wade—am I to understand that you want this prisoner convicted whether he’s guilty or not?”
“No, no, certainly not. But why appoint those four men in particular? There is always the possibility of collusion.”
Judge Hinkle’s face became bleak and gray. He rose slowly. The court room grew suddenly still. Hinkle walked across the little intervening space and faced the prosecutor.
“Collision, perhaps you mean,” he said. His quiet, even voice was cutting in its contempt. “What do you think this is—a town full of thugs? I want you to know that those four men stand a damn sight higher in this community than you do. Sit down—you’re making an indecent exposure of your soul!”
As he went back to his desk, an oldish man came to the door and caught Hobby Lull’s eye. He beckoned. Hobby rose and went to the door. They held a whispered council in the anteroom.
Judge Hinkle busied himself with the papers on his desk for a moment. When he looked up his face had regained its wonted color.
“Here comes Gwinne with the horse,” announced Hobby Lull from the anteroom.
“Mr. Dines, how does your client propose to question that horse, if I may ask?” inquired the judge.
“I propose to prove by my horse,” said Johnny, “that though I may have murdered this man I certainly did not shoot him while I was riding this horse. And I depend on the evidence of the prosecution’s witnesses”—he smiled at the prosecution’s witnesses—“to establish that no one rode in Redgate that day except me—and them! If the court will appoint some man known to be a rider and a marksman, and will instruct him to ride my horse by the courthouse windows, we can get this testimony over at once. It has been shown here that I carried a .45. Set up a box out there where we can see from the windows; give your man a gun and tell him to ride as close as he likes and put three shots in that box. If he hits that box more than once—”