"May I be allowed to speak?" he asked.
"Yes, I suppose so, providing you are brief and to the point," was the somewhat reluctant assent.
"I have been very much surprised at this enquiry," Douglas began, "and I wish to call attention to certain matters which have been passed over without any consideration at all. These men before you, sir, have pleaded guilty to the charges which I made against them. They have confessed that they were given liquor and ordered to attack me last Friday night. But you have not asked them who the person is who ordered the attack and gave them the whiskey. Is it not right that you should do so, sir, that we may know who was really at the bottom of that cowardly affair?"
"Hear, hear," came from several in the audience. "You are right. Let us know the person's name."
"Your question has no bearing upon this case," Squire Hawkins angrily replied. "These offenders have acknowledged their guilt, and they alone are the responsible ones and must bear the whole blame."
"But why did they attack me?" Douglas asked. "They had no ill will against me; they were merely tools in the hands of another. The one who set them on evidently wished to do me an injury. He is the guilty one, and I demand that you inquire who he is."
"Then you can keep on demanding," was the surly response. "I am conducting this case and not you."
A murmur of disapproval passed through the audience, and several cries of "Shame" were heard. Squire Hawkins was feeling very angry and at the same time uneasy. He was between two fires. He was afraid of the people, and yet he had a greater fear of the Stubbles. As he hesitated, not knowing what to do, Tom Totten cleared his throat and turned partly around.
"If yez want to know who put us on to that nasty job, I'll tell yez," he began. "It was Ben Stubbles who did it. He gave us the whiskey, an' ordered us to waylay Jake Jukes' hired man an' beat him up. That's God's truth, an' we are all ready to swear to it."
During the inquiry Ben had entered the hall and remained near the door. He listened to all that took place with much amusement. He felt perfectly secure and trusted to Squire Hawkins to shield him from any blame. He enjoyed Douglas' apparent defeat when his request was refused. But Tom's voluntary information was entirely unexpected. He had never for an instant imagined that the man would dare make such a statement. His momentary consternation gave way to furious anger and he at once hurried up the aisle.