“I told the constable to come up by my place and we’d time her. I knew what time she us’ally gets along,” said the Elder.
“You set a trap for the young lady?” queried Judge Little, and there was a low angry murmur all over the room. The old Elder shook his mane back and held up his head. His eyes glowed.
The old Elder, towering like a figure of wrath, scowled at Janice.
“I had a right to do so,” he declared. “She was breakin’ the law. She’s made that devil wagon she drives a nuisance on our roads. Me and the constable waited for her, and we timed her by our watches. At the rate she was going when she passed us, she was goin’ nigh fifty miles an hour! She was goin’ as fast as the cannon-ball express on the V. C.! Any other wagon on the road would have been in danger——”
“Were there any other wagons in sight, Elder?” asked the justice.
“No, sir. Didn’t happen to be just then.”
“It was a lonely piece of road?”
“But she kept right on at that pace. They tell me she came down into High Street at a turrible speed.”
The justice nodded, and called up the constable. The latter corroborated the testimony of the Elder. He showed no animosity against Janice, however; although under other conditions he might have done so. He was a man of much policy, and he saw that the courtroom was filled with people friendly to the accused.