eased Stuart from his horse to the ground. I
stopped and bluntly asked him why he had not been over, and he answered
that he was busy preparing for a rigid examination. I asked if they were
going to examine him on the art of killing game, and he laughed and
replied: "No, on the science of killing men. By the way," he added,
looking up into the top of a tree, "how is Alf getting along? Does he
appear to be hopeful?"

"He is more desperate than hopeful," I answered.

"Yes, I should think so. Is that a squirrel's nest? I have heard it
hinted that a love-affair had something to do with it--an affair pretty
close, at that. Well, I've got nothing to do with it. Can't drive out of
my mind what I have had so hard a time driving into it. Sorry, and all
that sort of thing. That's no squirrel's nest. But if people persist in
being romantic they must expect to have trouble. I'm sorry for the old
folks--must take it rather hard. Good-hearted and simple enough to worry
over it, surely. Well, if you happen to think of it, give Alf my
regards."

The coroner's jury had returned an expected verdict, influenced largely
by what Etheredge had to say. I had given my testimony, but I could not
make it sound as I wanted it--Alf's own words were against him, as I
repeated them that day. The preliminary trial, the mummery before a
justice of the peace, also went against Alf; the grand jury had brought
in its finding, and the next step was the formal arraignment before the
circuit judge. And I was now on my way to town to engage additional
legal help, as the lawyer whom we had retained appeared to be luke-warm
and half-hearted. I had heard many stories relating to the great force
and ability of an old ex-judge named Conkwright, and I called at his
office, though I had been warned that his price was exceedingly high. He
met me gruffly, I thought, but I soon discovered that he had a heart. I
told Alf's story, now so familiar to my own ears that I fancied that I
could give it with effect, and I must have touched him, for he said:
"Oh, well, I'll go into it and we'll say nothing about the price. I've
been working for nothing all my life, and I don't see why I should
change now. Why, of course, he ought to have killed him," and his old
eyes shone as he said it. "Had to kill him. It strikes me that they are
rushing things pretty fast, especially as the docket is covered with
murder cases that have been put over from time to time. That Stuart set
ha