“‘What is it?’ said he.
“‘I want to put my case before you, yore Honor,’ said I. ‘An’ I’m not a-goin’ to begin, as every convict does, by sayin’ he ain’t guilty, fer I know you’ve heerd that tale tell yo’ ‘re heartily sick of it.’
“‘But are you guilty?’ said the governor. ‘I have seed men sent up fer crimes they never committed.’
“‘Yore Honor,’ said I, ‘I didn’t no more intend to steal that hoss o’ Pike Williams’s than you did—not a bit. Gittin’ on a spree about once a year is my main fault, an’ it was Christmas, an’ all of us was full o’ devilment. It was at the Springplace bar, an’ Alf Moreland struck me a whack across the face with his whip, an’ bein’ astraddle of a fine nag he made off. Pike’s nag was hitched at the rack nigh me, an’, without hardly knowin’ what I was doin’, I jumped on it an’ spurred off after Alf. I run ’im nip an’ tuck fer about seven mile, an’ then me an’ him rid on fer more whisky down the valley. The next day I was arrested, so drunk they had to haul me to jail in a wagon. They tried me before a jury o’ men that never did like me, an’ I got five yeer.’
“When I stopped thar to draw a fresh breath the governor axed, ‘Is that what you wanted to say, Wakeman?’
“‘Not a word of it, yore Honor,’ said I. ‘I jest wanted to put a straight question to you about the law. Ef you knowed that a man was a-sufferin’ a sight more on account of imprisonment than his sentence called fer, would that be right?’
“The governor studied a minute, then he kinder smiled at the superintendent, an’ said:
“‘That’s a question fer the conscience. Ef a man is imprisoned fer a crime, an’ jail life breaks his health down, an’ is killin’ ‘im, then he ort to be pardoned out.’
“Then I had ’im right whar I wanted ‘im, an’ I up an’ told ’im that I had a wife that was all the world to me, an’ that durin’ my term mischievous folks had lied ag’in me an’ persuaded ’er to git a divorce, an’ that a oily-tongued scamp was a-tryin’ to marry ’er fer what little land she had. I reminded ’im that I was put in fer stealin’, an that I had worked four yeer o’ my sentence, an’ that it looked like a good deal o’ punishment fer jest one spree, but that I wouldn’t complain, bein’ as I was cured of the liquor habit an’ never intended to put the neck of a bottle to my mouth ag’in, but that I did kinder want to hurry back home ‘fore too much damage was done.
“Well, I’m not lyin’ when I say the governor’s eyes was wet. All of a sudden he helt out his han’ to me an’ said: