“It’s all right, old man. Your space has been measured and the full bill is allowed.”
“Silence!” roared the sheriff; “silence in court!”
But for the next minute or two he might as well have commanded the wind to keep silence. The spectators couldn’t help cheering, and as many of them as could get near him just had to shake hands with Myles Manning.
As soon as a little quiet was restored and he could make himself heard the judge ordered the sheriff to arrest Ben Watkins on the charge of perjury. That officer attempted to obey the order, but it was too late; Ben had disappeared. Taking advantage of the momentary confusion that followed the verdict he had slipped from the court-room. Five minutes later he was on board a fast train westward bound; nor from that day to this has any thing been heard from him directly. He is supposed to be in one of the new mining regions of the far West, but as the railroad company have not seen fit to prefer a charge against him for robbing their safe, nobody has cared to look him up.
As for Myles, the world never seemed so bright and joyous to him as when he stepped from that court-room honorably acquitted of the dreadful charge that had threatened to cloud his whole life. Accompanied by Billings, Captain Ellis, and Bert Smedley, he walked to the hotel, and almost every person they met on the way stopped to shake hands with him, or greeted him with a bow and a smile.
The good news had already travelled far beyond Mountain Junction. Billings had dispatched two messages from the court-room, one to Mrs. Manning and one to the Phonograph. Captain Ellis had sent one to the colonel of the 50th Regiment N. G. S. N. Y., and Bert Smedley had sent one to Mr. Saxon. Answers to these began to arrive soon after the party reached the hotel. The first was,
“We never for a moment doubted result. Come home quickly.
“Kate.”
From Mr. Haxall came the words: