Page:Harry Castlemon - The Steel Horse.djvu/18

. The latter was very much afraid that he would be compelled to say something that would criminate Tom, but to his surprise and relief the members of the grand jury did not seem to know that there was such a fellow in the world as Tom Bigden, for they never once mentioned his name. If the old woman and her boys had tried to throw the blame for their misdeeds upon his shoulders, they hadn't made anything by it. All the jury cared for was to find out just how much Joe and his friends knew about the six thousand dollars that had been stolen from the Irvington Bank; and as the boys knew but little about it, it did not take them long to give their evidence. Finally one of the jurymen said:

"Matt Coyle bothered you a good deal by stealing your canvas canoe and other property, I believe."

Joe replied that that was a fact.

"Would you prosecute him for it, if you had a chance?"

Joe said he never expected to have a chance, because Matt was dead.

"Perhaps he is, and perhaps he isn't," said