ly credited with a strong native bias, which
alone was sufficient to constitute him a round peg in a square hole, in
a frontier magistracy such as Fort Lamport. Personally, he was a
middle-aged man with a high bald forehead, and wearing a light full
beard--would have been a good-looking one but for a normally acid
expression of countenance.

Poor George stood limply in the dock, all the cheek taken out of him, as
Brian and I had laughingly told him, as we tried all we knew to hearten
him up just before he was placed there. Indeed, there were not wanting
those who thought ill of the magistrate's curt refusal of our attorney's
application to allow him to stand beside his father throughout the
preliminary examination, on account of his youth.

"I cannot make such exceptions as that, Mr Pyle," had been the answer.
"Had it been the case of a native no such application would have been
made."

This, by the way, was the sort of remark which did not precisely tend to
enhance Shattuck's popularity.

The Courthouse was a dingy, stuffy little enclosure, and it was crowded
to overflowing, the back part of the room, usually occupied by natives,
being closely packed with dark faces and rolling eyeballs; but scattered
among the townspeople was a large number of stock farmers, many of whom
had travelled considerable distances in order to render the Mattersons a
kind of moral support.

The first called was the District Surgeon, who made a post-mortem of the
two bodies. The deceased, he deposed, were boys of about fifteen or
sixteen, as far as he could judge. Then he proceeded to technical
detail, such as the number of shot-wounds in each, when and where
placed, and so forth. As to the other two who were wounded, he, the
District Surgeon, could not say they were out of danger yet. Their
injuries were undoubtedly severe.

Then followed, severally, the three or four boys who had been in the
company of those shot, and at the time. These gave their version of the
affair pretty much as George had given his. He had abused them for
being there, they said, and ordered them away. They laughed at him, and
he called out that if they did not go at once he would shoot them. He
was pointing his gun at them at the time, and the next thing they knew
was that it went off and four of them were lying on the ground. The
remainder ran away.

The tale of each tallied, but Pyle, the attorney who was watching the
case on behalf of George, aft