In the first shock of this duplication and therefore seeming negation of his individual ego, Baker almost went mad.
"You did this to me!" said Baker and Baker to Gentle, each drawing a concealed weapon and shooting the old man in the heart.
"You two fellers drop your guns and stand still," the voice behind them said. "The professor was always saying I was the most simple-minded assistant he ever had, but I've got brains enough to pull this trigger on this old shotgun if you move."
(The ETI chief explained: "The rest is hearsay. Those miners spyproof their towns.")
The trial was short with Jeb, the assistant's, testimony, but the jury deliberation was unaccountably long on the primitive world where justice ran fast for a blind woman.
"We waited long enough," Jeb said to the other men in the saloon. "Let's break them out of the cellar and hang 'em."
The miners didn't let the jury set a precedent. They hoisted a few inside the bar and went out of Lone Splyg Hill and hoisted two more.
"What have you idiots done?" the sheriff yelled as they trooped back into Klondike City.
"Anticipated the verdict a mite," Jeb admitted.
"That's just it," the sheriff groaned. "It was ruled justifiable homicide. Temporary insanity. At the time of the crime, each of the defendants was beside himself!"