ed it over to me.
There is no question as to the record. Two points must be settled,
however. First, did O'Meara give up the land he entered? And second, is
the young man we call O'mie heir to the same? Le Claire, you are just
back from the Osage Mission?"

The priest assented.

"Now, will you tell us what you know of this case?"

A sudden fear seized Tell Mapleson. Would this man lie now to please
Judge Baronet? Tell was a good reader of human nature, and he had
thoroughly believed in the priest as a holy man, one who had renounced
sin and whose life was one long atonement for a wild, tragic, and
reckless youth. He disliked Le Claire, but he had never doubted the
priest's sincerity. He could have given any sort of bribe had he deemed
the Frenchman purchasable.

"Just one word please, Judge," he said suavely. "Look here, Le Claire,
Baronet's a good lawyer, a rich man, and a popular man with a fine
reputation; but by jiminy! if you try any tricks with me and vary one
hair from the truth, I'll have you before the civil and church courts so
quick you'll think the Holy Inquisition's no joke. If you'll just tell
the truth nobody's going to know through me anything about your former
wives, nor how many half-breed papooses claim you. And I know Baronet
here well enough to know he never gossips."

Le Claire turned his dark face toward Mapleson, and his piercing black
eyes seemed to look through the restless lawyer fidgeting in his chair.
In the old days of the "Last Chance" saloon the two had played a quiet
game, each trying to outwit the other--the priest for the spiritual and
financial welfare of the Indian pensioners, Mapleson for his own
financial gain. Yet no harsh word had ever passed between them. Not even
after Le Claire had sent his ultimatum to the proprietor of the "Last
Chance," "Sell Jean Pahusca another drink of whiskey and you'll be
removed from the Indian agency by order from the Secretary of Indian
affairs at Washington."

"Mr. Mapleson, I hope the truth will do you no harm. It is the only
thing that will avail now, even the truth I have for years kept back. I
am no longer a young man, and my severe illness in October forced me to
get this business settled. Indeed, I in part helped to bring matters to
an issue to-day."

Mapleson was disarmed at once by the priest's frankness. He had waited
long to even up scores with the Roman Catholic who had kept many a
dollar from his till.

"You are right, gentle