his feet.

"This court," he said sternly, "is here to see that the prisoners are
given a fair trial, guilty or not guilty; and judgment shall not be
pronounced until the case has been fairly tried and their innocence or
their guilt fully established. This cannot be done until the prisoners
themselves have been heard in their own defense. Let us hear no more
talk of mob judgment and mob execution. The court will pronounce
judgment, and the court will see that its judgment is promptly executed,
to the full satisfaction of every honest law-abiding man in the city."
He paused for a moment, while his keen eyes sternly searched the faces
of the surrounding crowd. There was no response to his words and
challenging glance.

"This button," he continued quietly, holding up the button that Quinley
had handed him where all could see it, "the witness swears was picked up
by himself from the ground, where the struggle between the murdered man
and his murderers took place, and is presumed to have come either from
the clothing of the murdered man or from the clothing of his murderers;
and the witness asks that the clothing of the two prisoners be examined
to see if like buttons can be found on their clothing. The contentions
of the witness, regarding the value of this button as evidence in the
case before us, are just. Therefore his request is granted and the
prisoners are ordered to be examined. Young man," and he turned to Bud,
"you will please come forward; and allow the gentlemen of the jury to
compare this button with the buttons on your clothing," and he handed
the button he held in his hand to the foreman of the jury.

The production of this button by Quinley was a surprise to Thure and
Bud. If it should prove to have come from the clothing of one of them,
it certainly would look suspicious; but, how could it have come from
their clothes, at least from the clothes they now had on, since neither
of them were now wearing the same garments that they had worn on the day
of the hunt, when they had found the murdered miner? Consequently the
introducing of the button as evidence by Quinley had caused both of them
more surprise than it had uneasiness, surprise that Quinley should care
to introduce such meaningless evidence as he must know the button to be,
since the examination of their clothing could only prove that the button
belonged to neither of them. The episode of Quinley's stumble, in the
excitement of the trial, had passed f