“There’s no maybe about that—I have,” Haight broke in grimly.
“Well, say you have. That ain’t the point. The county can’t stand the expense of all those trials. You know that. What are you going to do about it?”
“Going right ahead with the trials. We begin with Brad Rogers to-morrow.”
“Oh, well! We got to be reasonable—all of us. Now here’s my proposition: Let me talk with the boys and their lawyers. If I could get them to plead guilty it would save a heap of trouble all around.”
Haight had looked at the matter from this angle before. He nodded. “All right. See what you can do, Mr. Roswell. If they will save us the expense of trying them, I think I can arrange for life imprisonment.”
“For all of them?” demanded the cattleman shrewdly.
“For all the rest of them.”
“How about Rowan?”
“He’s not included. We’ve got to make an example of him. He led the raid.”
Roswell fought it out with the lawyer for an hour, but on this point Haight stood firm. McCoy had to pay the extreme penalty for his crime. That was not even open to argument.