rom time to time occurs to relieve the monotony of life in the "wild
and woolly West," the missing man was unexpectedly arrested on board a
Mississippi steamboat--arrested simply and solely on the identification
of that double scar, for his description had been so far circulated--
arrested and sent back for trial. And lucky indeed for him that a long
enough period had elapsed to enable the excitement to die down; for, had
he been found during the first days of it, he would probably have had no
trial at all. He would almost certainly have been lynched. Not that it
could matter in the long ran. The crime was not only a sordid and
brutal one, it was also a clumsy one; in fact, about the clumsiest on
record. The murderer had knotted the noose round his own neck. No
loophole of escape had he, and, this being so, public opinion was, for
once, in favour of the law being allowed to vindicate itself. Such
vindication there was no need to anticipate in short and summary
fashion.

Lambert, his pulses beating, his hands trembling with excitement,
rapidly turned over the sheets of the file. What if the report of the
trial should be missing? That would be too vexatious. Yet that it had
ended favourably to the accused was clear, since here he was. Stay!
Had he escaped prior to it being held? Lambert felt that if that were
so, why then, he held in his hand not only the prospects and social
position of his enemy but the latter's very life. Yet it could not be,
since Musgrave had made no attempt at changing his name. And then, for
the first time, it occurred to Lambert to glance at the date of the
file. The affair had taken place just ten years previously.

Ten years? Why, the portrait might have been taken that day. Ten
years? Ah, the accused might have been found guilty on a lesser count,
and sentenced to imprisonment only. That indeed would be the best of
all, and Lambert fairly thrilled with delight over the prospect of
breaking the news to Mona Ridsdale that the man she had preferred to
himself was only an ex-gaol bird who had "done time," and who would, of
course, now that he was unmasked, be promptly kicked out of the
Government Service. Would he never find what he wanted? Ah! There it
was.

"The Stillwell's Flat Murder.
Trial of the Accused.
Lawyer Schofield's Eloquent Defence.
Judge McClellar sums up.
Verdict of Acquittal.
The boys talk about Lynching."

Acquittal? Down went poor Lambert