"Very well; but do not talk long, for it may prejudice your own case. The people whom he has swindled are here to see that some form of punishment is meted out to him, and it can do you no good to be seen acting as a consoler."
This possibility troubled Teddy very little since he was confident of his own innocence, and he approached the prisoner as he said:
"I wish I could do something, Mr. Hazelton, to prove you as innocent as I believe you to be."
"There's no need of that, my boy. I've put you in a hole already, and you've done more for me than some others who call themselves friends."
"I know it was Long Jim who committed the burglary; but how can it be proven now?"
"There was only one way, and that was to catch the real thieves with their plunder. Mr. Harvey tells me his attempt was a failure, an' it wouldn't surprise me if I was not only remanded for trial, but received a sentence for something of which I am absolutely innocent. I don't profess to be very good, my boy, as you may understand after seeing me work on the fair grounds; but I never yet descended to do such things as I am charged with now."
"I am certain of that," and Teddy pressed the prisoner's hand in token of friendship, "and only wish it was possible to aid you."
"You have already done more than my partners did," was the grateful reply, and then further conversation was prevented as the 'Squire called the assembly to order.
It was not a regular court of law; but one would have thought it the most dignified judicial body in the country had he seen the air with which the 'Squire took his seat at the head of the long table as he called the case.
"That settles Hazelton," Dan whispered as Teddy left the prisoner and rejoined his friends. "Somebody has got to suffer in order to make the law come out square, an' he's the feller what'll have to stand the brunt of everything."