be put upon the trail. Accordingly
the dog, which was usually seen at Belt's heels, was given the scent of
his master's coat, and started rapidly down the road, his nose to the
ground. The testimony as elicited at the trial showed that the brute had
bounded along to the Grant cottage, leaped upon the window sill, sniffed
eagerly about the spot, then ran down the path to a clump of bushes on
the river cliff. Here the creature stopped and set up a piteous howl.
The pursuing party hastened to the spot, and there lay the body of Belt,
who had fallen and died, as the autopsy revealed, of internal hemorrhage
produced by a pistol shot. As if to corroborate Grant's statement, a
chisel and a pistol were found in the grass under the window of his
bedroom.

Such was the history of the case. The absence of any testimony in behalf
of the prisoner beyond his own assertion, was painfully evident. His
wife supported him in the facts, but the law did not permit a wife to
testify in the husband's case, so this evidence was unavailable.

The natural sympathy which death awakens in the human breast,
especially a tragic one, had done its work even in the case of so
unpopular a man as Belt, and already he was considered a martyr.
The desperate lamentations and impoverished condition of his family
asserted their claims, and the time of trial found public opinion
greatly divided. The spark of envy in every community which had lain
dormant as long as the Grants were novelties, sprung into life at their
unwonted prosperity, and the gaily painted store and fanciful cottage
became eyesores to more than one. Various rumors, like uncanny spirits
of air, floated about till the prisoner felt himself sinking into an
abyss. Once down, there seemed no power ready to lift him up.

He employed several distinguished attorneys as counsel, and I, a
struggling young lawyer, whose ambition was to be worthy the mantle of
an illustrious father, was also retained. There was something about the
case that inspired me to the utmost of which I was capable. There was no
circumstantial evidence against the prisoner. He had frankly owned to
shooting the man. The issue rested upon his motive for the deed. What
was the provocation? True, Belt may have threatened his life; but Belt
was a drunkard, and who attached any importance to his words?

The prosecution endeavored to show that Grant, wearied with the enmity
of Belt, and wishing to be rid of him, had enticed him aw