"Damer?" said Seaforth. "That was the man Harry pitched into the river at Somasco."
Horton chuckled. "You're right. Harry's just a trifle too handy at slinging folks into rivers and down stairways. Well, the fellow was hanging round my store, and I thought I knew him and wasn't sure, but when I saw his name down on the Crown mining record that fixed me. Now you're quite ready, you and Tom, to swear to the story you told me?"
"Of course, but still I don't see——"
Horton's eyes twinkled. "You will presently. That's where being a magistrate comes in. I'm going to take hold of Damer for horse-stealing."
A thought came swiftly into Seaforth's mind, and he smote the table.
"But I can't swear it was Damer. You would never convict him."
Horton laughed the bushman's almost silent laugh. "I don't know that I want to. Anyway, I can keep on remanding him, and when I sent him up for trial it would be a rancher's jury. That's going to give us a pull on Mr. Hallam, who is standing in somewhere behind the whole thing—and I kind of fancy there's another man with him."
Seaforth's face grew grave. "Then, as Harry wouldn't like it and there's nothing in it, I'd get rid of that fancy. Now, of course, you know what you can do, but isn't it playing a little too much into your own hand? And you see folks might get talking about the thing."
Horton put on his most impressive air. "There's justice by statute, and there's equity, as well as a lot more you never heard about," said he.
Seaforth could not check his smile. "And which of them is what we're going to do?"
"This," said Horton solemnly, "is—all of them. It's the square thing. Is there any reason why a man shouldn't do what is right because it suits him? Anyway, it needn't worry you, because you can just sit up and watch the circus begin."