dn't. Two of
those who had plotted against DeBar were arrested, tried--and acquitted,
a fact which goes to prove the statement of a certain great man that
half of the time law is not justice. There is no need of going into
greater detail about the trials of the three men chiefly instrumental in
sending their father to his death, and who fled into the North."

"Good!" exclaimed Philip.

The word shot from him before he had thought. At first he flushed, then
sat bolt upright and smiled frankly into the inspector's face as he
watched the effect of his indiscretion.

"So many people thought at the time," said MacGregor, eying him with
curious sharpness. "Especially the women. For that reason the first
three who were caught were merely convicted of manslaughter instead of
murder. They served their sentences, were given two years each for good
behavior, and are somewhere in South America. The fourth killed himself
when he was taken near Moose Factory, and the other three went what the
law calls 'bad.' Henry, the oldest of them all, killed the officer
who was bringing him down from Prince Albert in '99, and was afterward
executed. Paul, the sixth, returned to his native town seven years after
the hanging of his father and was captured after wounding two of the
officers who went in pursuit of him. He is now in an insane asylum."

The inspector paused, and ran his eyes over a fresh slip of paper.

"And all this," said Philip in a low voice, "because of a crime
committed by the law itself. Five men hung, one a suicide, three in
prison and one in an insane asylum--because of a blunder of the law!"

"The king can do no wrong," said MacGregor with gentle irony, "and
neither can the law. Remember that, Philip, as long as you are in the
service. The law may break up homes, ruin states, set itself a Nemesis
on innocent men's heels--but it can do no wrong. It is the Juggernaut
before which we all must bow our heads, even you and I, and when by any
chance it makes a mistake, it is still law, and unassailable. It is
the greatest weapon of the clever and the rich, so it bears a moral. Be
clever, or be rich."

"And William DeBar, the seventh brother--" began Philip.

"Is tremendously clever, but not rich," finished the inspector. "He has
caused us more trouble than any other man in Canada. He is the youngest
of the seven brothers, and you know there are curious superstitions
about seventh brothers. In the first pursuit after the pri