e," retorted the Dean.

The men looked at each other.

"What are you goin' to do, then?" asked the spokesman.

"I'm goin' to make you turn him loose," came the startling answer. "You
fellows took him; you've got to let him go."

In spite of the grave situation several of the men grinned at the Dean's
answer--it was so like him.

"I'll bet a steer he does it, too," whispered one.

The Dean turned to the man by his side. "Patches, tell these men all
that you told me about this business."

When the cowboy had told his story in detail, up to the point where Phil
came upon the scene, the Dean interrupted him, "Now, get down there an'
show us exactly how it happened after Phil rode on to you an' Yavapai
Joe."

Patches obeyed. As he was showing them where Phil stood when the shot
was fired the Dean again interrupted with, "Wait a minute. Tom, you get
down there an' stand just as Phil was standin'."

The cattleman obeyed.

When he had taken the position, the Dean continued, "Now, Patches,
stand like you was when Phil was hit."

Patches obeyed.

"Now, then, where did that shot come from?" asked the Dean.

Patches pointed.

The Dean did not need to direct the next step in his demonstration.
Three of the men were already off their horses, and moving around the
bushes indicated by Patches.

"Here's the tracks, all right," called one. "An' here," added another,
from a few feet further away, "was where he left his horse."

"An' now," continued the Dean, when the three men had come back from
behind the bushes, and with Patches had remounted their horses, "I'll
tell you somethin' else. I had a talk with Phil himself, an' the boy's
story agrees with what Patches has just told you in every point. An',
furthermore, Phil told me straight when I asked him that he didn't know
himself who fired that shot."

He paused for a moment for them to grasp the full import of his words.
Then he summed up the case.

"As the thing stands, we've got no evidence against anybody. It can't be
proved that the calf wasn't Nick's property in the first place. It can't
be proved that Nick was anywhere in the neighborhood. It can't be proved
who fired that shot. It could have been Yavapai Joe, or anybody else,
just as well as Nick. Phil himself, by bein' too quick to jump at
conclusions, blocked this man's game, just when he was playin' the only
hand that could have won out against Nick. If Phil hadn't 'a' happened
on to Patches and Joe whe