d that the witness had a right to refuse to
incriminate himself.

"You stick to your bread pills and vials," he said to the coroner, "and
don't assume a knowledge of the law. You become ridiculous when you do."

"I know my powers," retorted Carmody in high resentment, "and you keep a
civil tongue in your head or I'll fine you for contempt. I may not know
all the ins and outs of court procedure, but I'm going to see justice
done, and I'm going to see that you keep your place."

"You can't steam-roll me," roared Raines.

The argument became so hot that Throop was forced to interfere, and in
the excitement and confusion of the moment Busby mad a dash for the
door, and would have escaped had not Hanscom intercepted him. The room
was instantly in an uproar. Several of Busby's friends leaped to his
aid, and for a few minutes it seemed as if the coroner's court had
resolved itself into an arena for battling bears. Busby fought
desperately, and might have gained his freedom, after all, had not
Rawlins taken a hand.

At last Throop came into action. "Stop that!" he shouted, and fetched
Busby a blow that ended his struggles for the moment. "Let go of him,
Hanscom," he said. "I'll attend to him."

Hanscom and Rawlins fell back, and Throop, placing one huge paw on the
outlaw's shoulder, shoved the muzzle of a revolver against his neck.

"Now you calm right down, young man, and remember you're in court and
not in a barroom."

Raines, still unsubdued, shouted out, "You take your gun away from that
man, you big stiff!"

"_Silence!_" bellowed Carmody. "I'll have you removed if you utter
another word."

"I refuse to take orders from a pill-pusher like you."

"Sheriff, seat that man," commanded Carmody, white with wrath.

Throop, thrusting Busby back into his chair, advanced upon Raines with
ponderous menace. "Sit down, you old skunk."

"Don't you touch me!" snarled the lawyer.

"Out you go," said Throop, with a clutch at the defiant man's throat.

Raines reached under his coat-tails for a weapon, but Rawlins caught him
from behind, and Throop, throwing his arms around his shoulders in a
bearlike hug, carried him to his chair and forced him into it.

"Now will you be quiet?"

The whole room was silent now, silent as death, with a dozen men on
their feet with weapons in their hands, waiting to see if Raines would
rise.

Breaking this silence, Carmody, lifted by excitement to unusual
eloquence, cried out: "Gentlemen,