t the court house door Will Turk left her with a nod and went direct
into the judge's chamber and the Commonwealth's attorney followed
him--but of what law was being laid down there, she remained in
heart-wracking ignorance.

Beyond the court house doors, plastered with notices of sheriff's sales
and tax posters, the county seat simmered with an air of excitement that
morning.

Street loungers, waiting for the trial to begin, knew the faces of those
who had been neighbours, friendly or hostile, for many years; but to-day
there were strangers in town as well.

Soon after daylight these unknown men had arrived, and one could see
that they came from a place where life was primitive; for even here,
where the breadth of a street was at their disposal, they did not ride
abreast but in single file, as men do who are accustomed to threading
narrow trails. They were led by a patriarchal fellow with a snowy beard
and a face of simple dignity, and behind him came a squat and twisted
hunchback who met every inquisitive gaze with a sharp challenge that
discouraged staring. Back of these two were more than a dozen others,
and though their faces were all quiet and their bearing courteous,
rifles lay balanced across their saddle-bows.

But most challenging in interest of all the newcomers was a young woman
whose bronzed hair caught the glint of morning sunlight and whose dark
eyes were deep and soft like forest pools.

"Ther Kaintuckians," murmured onlookers along the broken sidewalks as
that cavalcade dismounted in the court house square to file quietly
through the entrance doors, and eyes narrowed in a sinister augury of
hostile welcome.

These visitors seated themselves together in a body on one side of the
aisle and when the old bell had clanged its summons and Sheriff Beaver
sang out his "Oyez, Oyez," the judge looked down upon them with more
than passing interest.

From the door at one side of the bench Ken Thornton was brought in and
as a gratuitous mark of indignity he came with his wrists manacled.

But from the Kentucky group, even from Dorothy herself, that
circumstance wrung no murmur of resentment and the accused stood for a
moment before he took his seat with eyes ranging over the place until
they came to the section of the dingy room where he encountered the
unscowling faces of friends.

There were his supporters who had come so far to raise their voices in
his behalf, and perhaps to share the brunt of hatred