"If it is pertinent to any evidence already introduced," decided his honor, "it can go in."
"It's an affidavit from Pima Pete!" quavered Chub, holding up the letter.
"Wait!" shouted the prosecutor.
"Don't speak, my boy, till I ask you something," said Short.
The prosecutor and Short got their heads together at the judge's desk, and the affidavit of Pima Pete was looked over.
"This is entirely relevant," declared the judge, "and we will have it read."
The affidavit was handed to the clerk, and he read the same in a loud, incisive voice.
The document stated, in clear, crisp terms, that the deponent was one Peter Sebastian, otherwise known as Pima Pete, that he had been a member of Dangerfield's gang of smugglers, told how Dangerfield had sold cattle and buried ten thousand dollars in double eagles, had intended to dig the money up on his way to Mexico, and had been captured before he could carry out his plans. The affidavit then went on to state how Dangerfield had requested Motor Matt to dig up the money for him, claiming that it was honest money, and send the lion's share of it to Dangerfield's father, in Emmetsburg, Iowa; how Pima Pete had given a note to Clipperton, asking him to tell Matt to come for the gold; how Matt had refused to mix up with Pete, and how Clipperton had gone, had joined Pete, had helped dig up the gold, and how both had been set upon by Hogan and Leffingwell.
That affidavit, written by Motor Matt in a tearing hurry, was a model of clearness and brevity.
The prosecutor was on hand with a whole lot of objections, aimed at having the affidavit stricken from the record. In the first place, the affidavit was in lead-pencil. This was unusual, and would allow of changing its contents; in the next place, how were they to know that Pima Pete, a proscribed outlaw, was the real author of the document? And what credence was a half-breed entitled to, anyway, even when under oath?