ill!" shouted a man below him, brandishing the butt of a
raw-hide whip above his head. "And while you jaw on about it here, he
may be tied up like a dog in the woods, shot full of holes by the men
you never lifted a finger to hender, because you want their votes when
you run for circuit judge. What are we doin' _here_? What's the good of
listening to you?"

There was a yell at this, and those who heard the speaker would probably
have started for the Cross-Roads without further parley, had not a rumor
sprung up, which passed so rapidly from man to man that within five
minutes it was being turbulently discussed in every portion of the
crowd. The news came that the two shell-gamblers had wrenched a bar
out of a window under cover of the storm, had broken jail, and were
at large. Their threats of the day before were remembered now, with
convincing vividness. They had sworn repeatedly to Bardlock and to the
sheriff, and in the hearing of others, that they would "do" for the man
who took their money from them and had them arrested. The prosecuting
attorney, quickly perceiving the value of this complication in holding
back the mob that was already forming, called Homer from the crowd
and made him get up on the fence and confess that his prisoners had
escaped--at what time he did not know, probably toward the beginning of
the storm, when it was noisiest.

"You see," cried the attorney, "there is nothing as yet of which we can
accuse the Cross-Roads. If our friend has been hurt, it is much more
likely that these crooks did it. They escaped in time to do it, and
we all know they were laying for him. You want to be mighty careful,
fellow-citizens. Homer is already in telegraphic communication with
every town around here, and we'll have those men before night. All
you've got to do is to control yourselves a little and go home quietly."
He could see that his words (except those in reference to returning
home--no one was going home) made an impression. There rose a babble of
shouting and argument and swearing that grew continually louder, and
the faces the lawyer looked down on were creased with perplexity, and
shadowed with an anger that settled darker and darker.

Mr. Ephraim Watts, in spite of all confusion, clad as carefully as
upon the preceding day, deliberately climbed the fence and stood by the
lawyer and made a single steady gesture with his hand. He was listened
to at once, as his respect for the law was less notorious th