when it's far away. Then, pretty soon, I saw
Fairchild come rushing out of the mine, and his hands were all bloody.
He ran to the creek and washed them, looking around to see if anybody
was watching him--but he did n't notice me. Then when he 'd washed the
blood from his hands, he got up on the road and went down into town.
Later on, I thought I saw all three of 'em leave town, Fairchild,
Sissie and a fellow named Harkins. So I never paid any more attention
to it until to-day. That's all I know."

She stepped down then and went back to her seat with Squint Rodaine and
the son, fidgeting there again, craning her neck as before, while
Fairchild, son of a man just accused of murder, watched her with eyes
fascinated from horror. The coroner looked at a slip of paper in his
hand.

"William Barton," he called. A miner came forward, to go through the
usual formalities, and then to be asked the question:

"Did you see Thornton Fairchild on the night he left Ohadi?"

"Yes, a lot of us saw him. He drove out of town with Harry Harkins,
and a fellow who we all thought was Sissie Larsen. The person we
believed to be Sissie was singing like the Swede did when he was drunk."

"That's all. Mr. Harkins, will you please take the stand again?"

"I object!" again it was Farrell. "In the first place, if this crazy
woman's story is the result of a distorted imagination, then Mr.
Harkins can add nothing to it. If it is not, Mr. Harkins is cloaked by
the protection of the law which fully applies to such cases and which,
Mr. Coroner, you cannot deny."

The coroner nodded.

"I agree with you this time, Mr. Farrell. I wish to work no hardship
on any one. If Mrs. Rodaine's story is true, this is a matter for a
special session of the grand jury. If it is not true--well, then there
has been a miscarriage of justice and it is a matter to be rectified in
the future. But at the present, there is no way of determining that
matter. Gentlemen of the jury," he turned his back on the crowded room
and faced the small, worried appearing group on the row of kitchen
chairs, "you have heard the evidence. You will find a room at the
right in which to conduct your deliberations. Your first official act
will be to select a foreman and then to attempt to determine from the
evidence as submitted the cause of death of the corpse over whom this
inquest has been held. You will now retire."

Shuffling forms faded through the door at the righ