y'll only make use of everything you
say."

"Ah've got nothin' to say," the darky declared. "Ah jes' went after some
rabbit an' come home. Ah've been in my bed since a little after
sundown."

"You couldn't ha' been," declared the sheriff, "'cause the injured man
wa'n't shot till it was nigh dark."

"What time was the shooting?" asked Anton.

"Between a quarter and a half after eight," the sheriff replied coolly,
"we know that much fo' sure, any way. And Dan'l can't show an alibi. He
says he was in bed. His bed can't give evidence in court. Yo' didn't see
him, Anton?"

"No," the boy answered, "I haven't been out of the house since seven
o'clock except just to my rain-gauge."

"Well," said the sheriff, yawning, "that's yo' last chance, Dan'l. If
Anton had seen yo', there'd have been a witness. But yo' ain't got none
and Ole Lindstrom, here, declares that he seen yo' jes' afore it got
dark."

"Ah've done nothin'!" the darky declared.

The sheriff kicked the darky's tattered boots across the floor, not
unkindly.

"Hyar," he said, "put yo' shoes on. Carl ain't goin' to die, and the
jedge won't do much to yo'."

"Ah never done nothin'," the negro protested, but he leant down as he
was told, and started to put on his shoes.

One of the shoes had slid close to Anton's feet, almost knocking the
crutch out of his hand, and the lad's glance fell on it. He started.

"What time did you say the shooting was done, Mr. Abner?" he asked.

"Between a quarter and a half after eight," the sheriff replied.

With a sudden excitement in his voice, Anton turned to the negro.

"How many pairs of shoes have you got?" he asked.

Dan'l caught the tension in his voice.

"Two pair, Mistah Anton," he said.

"Which did you wear this afternoon?"

"These hyar."

"And where are the others?"

"In yonder corner."

Anton limped across the room and brought out the second pair of shoes.
The leather was all dry and wrinkled. They had evidently not been used
for a long time.

"He's right, Mr. Abner," he said, "he wore those shoes."

The sheriff, divining by the excitement in the boy's voice that there
was a hidden purpose in these remarks, took up the second pair of shoes
and looked at them.

"Yes, that's sho'," he answered, "he didn't wear these hyar!"

"Then he wore those," said Anton.

"Well, what if he did?"

"Look at your shoes," said the boy.

"Well?" queried the sheriff, looking down at his boots.

"They're muddy