rison--every drop of blood in me rose up
in protest, and I swore then and there that if there was any such thing
as executive clemency in this broad land of ours, you should have it!"

If I had been wholly well and out of prison perhaps the cheap bombast
in all this would have been apparent at once. But I was neither well
nor free. And Polly's heart was breaking; I didn't need Whitredge's
word for this--I knew it by all the torments of inward conviction.

I understood well enough what he was asking me to do: to tip the scale
against what might be Barrett's and Gifford's better judgment, and to
sign a paper which would stamp me for all time as a criminal pleading,
not for justice, but for pardon. In spite of this knowledge the
pressure Whitredge had brought to bear was well-nigh irresistible.
Barrett and the Colorado lawyers evidently had their hands too full to
think of me; and, in any event, I could not see what possible chance
they might have of reopening my case and proving my innocence. At the
end of it I was reaching for the pen in Whitredge's hand, but at the
touch of the thing with which I was to sign away my fighting rights for
all time a little flicker of strength came.

"You must give me time, Whitredge; a little time to think this over," I
pleaded. "Four years and a half ago I told you I was innocent--I tell
you so again. You are asking me to confess that I was guilty; if I
sign that petition it will be a confession in fact. I have sworn a
thousand times that I'd rot right here inside of these walls before I'd
ask for a pardon for a crime that wasn't mine. Leave these papers and
let me think about it. Give me a chance to convince myself that there
is no other way!"

He looked at his watch, and if he were disappointed he was too well
schooled in his trade to show it.

"All right; just as you say," he agreed. "Shall we make it this
afternoon--say, some time after three o'clock?"

"Make it to-morrow morning," I begged.

This time he hesitated, again pulling out his watch and consulting its
face as if it were an oracle. I had no means of knowing--what I
learned later--that he was making a swift calculation upon the arriving
and departing hours of certain railroad trains. None the less, he
agreed somewhat reluctantly to the further postponement; but when the
turnkey was unlocking the door he gave me a final shot.

"I don't want to influence you one way or the other, Bert--that is, not
against