Sevier eyed Polcher closely, anticipating what was coming. The tavern-keeper gazed only at McGillivray and said:
“The man Jackson, acting under Chucky Jack’s orders, killed your Creek messenger. He was seen to do it by a settler, who was murdered to close his mouth. But before the witness died he told me of the crime.”
“What? What’s this?” roared McGillivray, turning to glare at the composed face of the borderer. “What have you to say, Sevier?”
And the long hands opened and closed as if searching for a deadly weapon or an enemy’s throat.
“Do you believe it?” Sevier quietly asked.
“You heard the charge. Answer!” thundered the emperor.
“Pardon me; but if you already believe it, it is useless for me to answer,” Sevier replied in the same level voice.
McGillivray was nonplussed by this method of defence and finally demanded of Polcher—
“How do you know this to be so?”
“I saw the messenger’s scalp on Sevier’s table in the court-house.”