a knife. I remember
one of them saying: 'Don't shoot--it'll bring the whole town out!'
And just as this one raised his knife to drive it into my throat--they
were bending me backwards, the other two--I heard a shot, and this one
dropped his knife and gave a yell. There were two other shots, and
the two who were holding me dropped. This one ran off. Then--" The boy
turned and looked down at Jack, smoking his cigarette and trying to
read what lay behind the stolid stare of the twelve men who sat in
a solemn row on the bunks opposite him. "This young man--" His lips
trembled, and he stopped, to bite them into a more manlike firmness.

"Gentlemen, do what you like with me, but you've got to let this man
go! He's the coolest, bravest man I ever saw! He saved my life. You
can't hang him for protecting a man from murder and robbery!"

"Young man," interrupted the Captain after a surprised silence, "we
admire your generosity in trying to clear your fellow prisoner, but
you must let this jury try his case. What's your name?"

"John Belden, of Cambridge, Massachusetts." The young fellow's rage
faded to a sullen calm under the cold voice.

The Captain made a startled movement and looked at him sharply. "And
what was your hurry to get to town?" he asked, after a minute.

"I wanted to get a ticket on the boat, the _Mary Elizabeth_, that is
going to leave for New York to-morrow. I wanted to go--home. I've had
enough of gold-hunting!" Youthful bitterness was in his tone and in
the look he turned on the jury.

The Captain cleared his throat. When he spoke again, he addressed the
twelve before him:

"Gentlemen of the jury, I have reasons for feeling convinced that
this young man is in part telling the truth. I am acquainted with his
father, unless he has given a name he does not own--and his face is
a pretty good witness for him; he looks like his dad. While he has
undoubtedly glossed and warped the story of the shooting in a mistaken
effort to make things look better for the man who did the killing, I
can see no sufficient reason for holding him. This Committee stands
for justice and is not backward about tempering it with mercy.
Gentlemen of the jury, I recommend that John Belden be released from
custody and permitted to go home. He was unarmed when I took him, and
there is no evidence of his having dealt anything but hard words to
the victims of the shooting. Gentlemen, you will give your verdict;
after which we will proceed