"I have come to speak for the boy!" cried the strange man. "There is a conspiracy afoot to put him down, but, by the Great Kanawha! it shall not be done. He has——"
"Order!" cried Justice Claverton, turning very red in the face.
"Order and justice and equal rights!" cried the hermit. "These stories they have told are all false."
"Stop!" yelled Claverton. "Are we to be interrupted by a crazy man?"
"Put him down!" some one shouted.
"Silence!" commanded the sheriff, his words bringing the desired effect. "I will look after this madman," pushing his way through the crowd to the stranger's side.
"I am here only in the cause of justice," said the old man, trembling in every limb as he spoke. "The boy has done nothing wrong."
"Then he will not be injured," replied Sheriff Brady. "You can go on with your examination if you wish, your honor."
Amid a profound silence, Leonard Jones, the private secretary of Mr. Warfield, was asked to tell what he knew about the case, when he stated that his employer, expecting so many letters and not getting them, had sent him to ascertain if they had not been delayed on the route, and that he had learned that three more than he had received had really got as far as the Greenbrier office, after which no trace of them could be found.
Mr. Rimmon at this juncture seemed about to speak, but he remained silent, knowing that he had not helped the postboy any by his previous hasty words.