'We want another witness,' said Chevell.
'There is one,' said Zita, pointing with a foil to Drownlands at the window of his office. 'There are more if you desire them—Leehanna Tunkiss, the girl Sarah, and Tom Easy. They all saw me give Mark the money.'
Aaron called to Drownlands if it was so. Drownlands answered in assent.
'Summon the other witnesses,' commanded the self-constituted judge.
Whilst the men knocked at the house door and demanded the presence of Mrs. Tunkiss and the girl Sarah, Beamish raised his voice in protest.
'I say, mates and comrades all, this is strange and unwarranted proceedings. Am not I your leader?'
A shout of, 'You was—but you're a thief—we'll have none of you. I vote for Aaron Chevell. Duck him; he's a turncoat. He's a cheat and robs the poor men.'
'It is false!' shouted Beamish, between rage and disappointment. 'How can I have acted as you say, when I am the man who urged you on,—I, who have the cause at heart more than any of you?'
'Oh yes! that's how Judas talked!' shouted some one in the crowd. Then there came yells of, 'Judas! Judas! Let him hang like Judas!'
The door of the house was not opened to allow the witnesses to issue at the dictate of the mob.