All eyes turned now to the door by which the officer of the court went out to obey the order.
Presently it swung back, and there entered, between two jailors, a man of dissipated appearance and reckless demeanour, whose flushed cheeks and extravagant attire told only too plainly their own sad tale of intemperance and debauchery.
He regarded with an indifferent look judge, jury, and the crowd which his trial had drawn together, and took his place at the bar rather with the air of a man harassed and ill-used than of one guilty and overawed.
The trial began. The story of the man’s crime was a short and simple one. He had been ringleader in a highway robbery lately committed, and taken in the very act, with the booty upon his person. The evidence was clear as daylight; no one attempted to dispute it or deny the accusation.
Was this, then, all that had brought the assembly together? The man was of a name known to comparatively few of those present. His crime was an ordinary felony, and his defence appeared to be hopeless. It was evidently something else than this for which these onlookers had crowded into court, and it was not long before their curiosity was satisfied.
A witness stood forward to be questioned as to the associates of the prisoner. He gave several names, and then stopped.
“Have no others joined him in these expeditions?” inquired the judge.
The witness hesitated.
“The law requires that you shall tell the whole truth,” calmly said the judge. “Have no others joined the prisoner in these expeditions?”
Then the truth came out.