Page:Melville Davisson Post--The Man of Last Resort.djvu/222

198 of this man Gilmore; he pointed out how fearful of arrest the murderer of Hirst was, at that very hour hurrying westward in order, as he believed, to put himself beyond the reach of the law.

The witness talked on glib and shrewdly, and while he talked, the jury, unfamiliar with the rules of evidence, grew indignant and bitter, and fired with a sense of the gigantic outrage.

Presently the door opened and the prosecuting attorney entered with the indictment.

“Are you ready to vote on the matter, gentlemen?” he asked.

The foreman nodded slowly. “I guess we are, Jeb,” he answered.

“Then,” responded the prosecuting attorney, “Mr. Bartlett and myself will withdraw.”

The witness arose and followed Mr Huron out of the jury room.

When the door had closed, the chief inquisitor from Charity Fork picked up the indictment, turned it over curiously in his ponderous hand, and then laid it down on the table with the back up. Then he took up his pen and jabbed it down into the ink pot.