e, sir," said Jaggers, with quiet manliness.

The case against the accused seemed black; but he met it with
extraordinary courage and resource.

He admitted that he had been in the shed at the time alleged.

He said that he had gone there to smoke out of the wind, and admitted
further that he _had_ set the shed on fire--by accident.

When asked in court why, if he had set the shed on fire by accident, he
had run away, his defence was simple and convincing.

He said he was afraid. He'd been in trouble before.

"And once you've been in trouble, the police know you, and you never get
a chance. I got a panic, and I bolted--very foolishly."

The defence evidently impressed both judge and jury. And had it been
simply a question of setting fire to the shed the accused might have got
off; but there was the further matter of Four-Pound-the-Second.

How did the yearling come to be in the shed?

Joses retorted that it was not for him to say; but he suggested that it
had come on to rain, and that the colt had sought shelter from the
storm.

It was there that Silver came in.

The papers said, and said truly, that the young banker gave his evidence
with obvious reluctance.

"Was the colt in the shed when you came up?" asked the prosecuting
counsel.

"Yes."

"Was it raining?"

"It was drizzling."

"Was the door shut?"

"Yes."

"How was it shut?"

"With a wooden latch."

"That you lifted to let the colt out?"

"Yes."

"Could the wind have banged the door to?"

"Possibly."

"Could the latch have _fallen_ into its place?"

"I don't know."

"What d'you think?"

"I doubt it."

In cross-examination the aim of the counsel for the defence was to show
that the evidence of the witness was unreliable because he was actuated
by personal malevolence against the accused.

"Have you had words with the prisoner on more than one occasion?"

"Yes."

"It was a word from you that put the police on to him in the first
instance?"

"It was _not_," with warmth.

"You found a knife you believed to belong to the prisoner in the shed
after the fire?"

"Outside the shed."

"And you took the knife to the police?"

"I did not."

"Where is the knife now?"

"I don't know."

"Who did you give it to?"

"Miss Woodburn."

The girl was called. Her evidence was very brief. Mr. Silver had given
her the knife. She had taken it to the cottage where the prisoner lodged
and handed it back to the woman there.

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