Tim removed his pipe preparatory to a more lengthy speech.
“Oi mind when Ould Dave Cottrell was up before the beak, which in them days was Noah Chapman, fer shootin’ a dog o’ Mrs. Mandle’s. The dog had worried Ould Dave’s sheep, and one day, d’ye moind, the ould fellow up an’ shot him. Av coorse, the decision was against Dave, an’ as he pays his fine he up an’ says, ‘That’s what comes uv bein’ tried by a relative uv the deceased,’ says he.
“‘Oi fine ye foive dollars for contimpt uv coort,’ says ould Chapman, just loike the Czar sintencing a gineral to be shot, he says, ‘an’ what’s more, ye’ll pay it afore ye go out.’
“Ould Dave looked at him a minute, and thin he pulled out tin dollars an’ handed it to him, solemn as if he was gettin’ married.
“‘Kape the change,’ says ould Dave.”
There was a general laugh at this recountal of old Dave’s wit, when one of the crowd mentioned that a “policeman-lookin’” fellow had got off the train and gone up to Gardiner’s.
“That’ll be another come out to round up young Burton,” said Big Jack. “It’s a pity they wouldn’t send the whole force an’ be done with it.”
“There’ll be no need of any more,” said another. “Burton will come round quiet enough this time. That fellow yesterday just rubbed on a raw spot on his nerves, and he got what was comin’ to him.”
It proved to be as the last speaker had predicted. Upon the failure of Elton to land his man it dawned upon those in authority that it might be as well to send someone a little more familiar with the game, and Officer Macdonald was placed on the case. Upon his arrival at the store he had a long talk with Gardiner, and finally Burton was called into the private office. He recounted briefly the facts of the case as far as he knew them.
“The situation is most unfortunate, Burton,” said Macdonald. “It is not for me to judge you, nor even to imply that you have guilty knowledge of this matter. However, as you understand, I am sent here to unravel this case if possible, and I must act on the evidence at hand. Further evidence may develop at a later date and entirely change the aspect of the affair, but at present I must act upon the information available, and I feel that that information demands that a warrant for your arrest be issued and you placed in custody.”