them.
`What'n hell was Nick thinkin' of to come back?' the rancher queried.
`On'y the guilty run away, ol'-timer,' Sudden smiled. `He'll make the grade.'
`Shore hope so, but if anythin' goes awry, there's five here you can depend on--to the limit.'
`That's good listenin'. I'm not forgettin' it.'
`Pickles ! You did me a service. We ain't catched Bull yet, but he's keepin' his han's off.'
`Been busy other ways, but I've a notion he won't trouble yu no more.'
`Which'll suit me fine. So that's the S P heiress? She certainly rests the eyes.'
`I'll tell her yu said so,' Sudden grinned.
`Don't you, or I'll light out,' Vasco threatened. `Hello, there's Greg, an' he's lookin' kind o' surprised.'
He was right, but `surprised' was a pallid description of the Big C man's state. He had seated himself at the end of the front row, near the jury-box, before he saw the girl; he started to rise, only to sink down again under the freezing glance she gave him. How did she come to 'be here? A qualm of uneasiness shot through him.
The appearance of the accused, escorted by the sheriff, was the next incident. He nodded to his friends as he passed, stepped unconcernedly into the dock, and surveyed the jury critically.
The Judge slouched in, the jury was sworn, and Towler turned to the dock.
`Nicholas Drait, you are charged with stealing stock from the S P ranch,' he said. `Do you plead guilty or not guilty?' `Which would you advise, Judge?' Seriously.
`I'm not here to give you advice,' Towler snapped.
`I keep forgettin' yo're on the other side,' Nick said ruefully, a naive expression which brought titters from the audience, and made the Judge angry.
`I am not on either side, sir,' he thundered. `And let me warn you that facetiousness will not help your case. Answer my question.'
`When in doubt, toss for it.' Nick spun a coin and studied the result anxiously. `Not guilty. Well, what's fairer'n that? D'you mind tellin' me who's bringin' the charge?'
The Judge did not see the sheriff's negative headshake. `Naturally the person who was robbed,' he replied drily. Mary stood up. `I am that person, and I know nothing of it.'
Towler frowned; he had been misled again. He referred to a paper. `My information is that you lodged a complaint with the sheriff and asked for action to be taken.'
`I have neither spoken nor written to him at any time.'
The Judge's silence told Camort he must get out of the difficulty himself. `The message came by another party, an' warn't written,' he explained.
The name, please,' Mary insisted.
The sheriff hesitated, but there was no alternative; for once in his tortuous career he must tell the truth. `Gregory Cullin.'
Her contemptuous gaze travelled to where the rancher sat. `Mister Cullin had no authority whatever to bring a message from me.'
The rancher rose. `Miss Darrell told me of her loss an' expressed the view that no punishment was too severe for a rustler. I believed I was carryin' out her wishes in gettin' the sheriff to move in the matter,' he said heavily.
Mary ignored him. `It is admitted I did not authorise this--this--'
`Prosecution?' Towler suggested, with a smile which acted like a goad on the girl.
` 'Persecution' was the word I was seeking,' she retorted. `I have no wish for it to go on, and ask you to dismiss the accused forthwith.'
Flushed and breathless, she sank into her seat amidst general applause. Coarse-fibred as most of the audience were, they could appreciate beauty, and above that, courage. She found her real reward in the warm eyes of the man in the dock.
Silence fell on the court; everyone was waiting for the decision. Towler, listening to Camort, noticed that Cullin was talking to one of the jury.
`You must not do that, Mister Cullin,' he said sharply. `If it happens again, I shall have you removed.'
The rancher drew back, his face rigid. `Sorry,' he drawled and with a palpable sneer, `I thought the case was ended.'
The Judge bent his gaze on the girl. `The matter is less simple than you imagine, ma'am,' he began. `You may condone a crime, but I cannot; it is my duty to protect the public.'
`No crime has been committed,' she replied hotly. `Mister Drait did not steal the cattle.'
`That is what we are here to determine; the trial must go on.'
She sat down, her eyes flaming. Sudden patted her shoulder, rose, and smiled apologetically at the Judge. `She's just naturally disappointed, seh,' he said. `Ain't wishin' to delay proceedin's none, but I'm wonderin' if yu'd settle a triflin' argument for me? A fella claimed that when a woman marries, any property she has becomes the property o' the husband. I didn't agree, an' we had a li'l bet.'
`Which you have lost,' Towler said. `That is the law.'
`Never was lucky,' Sudden said sadly. `I'm obliged.'
But his expression as he sat down belied his voice, and the meaning look he gave the girl beside him electrified her. Red-faced, eyes shining, she cried : `I again demand the release of the accused.'
The Judge gestured wearily. `On what grounds now?'
`You have just stated them. Nicholas Drait is my husband, and owner of the S P. Even this court cannot convict a man of stealing what already belongs to him. Here is the proof.' She produced the paper the minister had given her on that fateful morning.
Again the paralysed silence as the Judge bent over it. When he looked up it was to ask sternly : `Why wasn't I told of this earlier?'
`The marriage was kept secret, at my request--the whim of a foolish woman.' Mary said steadily. `I did not know about the law until you answered Mister Green.' She smiled, enjoying her triumph. `They say a little knowledge is dangerous, but it seems to me that a little ignorance is more destructive.'
The Judge did not reply; he was tasting the bitterness of defeat and not liking it. But there was no escape. In his best judicial manner, he said: `The evidence now before the Court completely destroys the case for the prosecution, and exonerates the accused.'
The effort was received in silence. The cheering broke out only when Nick walked from the dock, gripped his wife's hand hard enough to account for the wetness in her eyes, and turned to thank his friend.
`Forget it,' Sudden said hastily. `The Judge is goin' to dismiss the jury; he mustn't do that.'
He stepped on the platform, to be greeted with a sour look of surprise, and a sharp, `Well, sir?'
`This business ain't finished,' the puncher said bluntly. `Mebbe this'll interest you.' He laid a letter on the desk.
Fear gripped the jurist as he read. Briefly, the document informed all whom it might concern, that the bearer, James Green, was deputed to enquire into the Pavitt succession, and other irregularities in and around Midway, and to deal with them as he thought fit. All officials were required to give him every assistance. It was signed, 'Bleke, Governor.'
The Judge drew a difficult breath. He could vision himself losing everything, even his lioerty, for the Governor's attitude to ill-doers justified his name. `I wish you had made yourself known to me earlier.' Sudden smiled. `What do you wish me to do?'
`Tell 'em the show ain't over.'
The Judge rapped for silence, and made the announcement, rather more grandiloquently than the puncher had put it, and the audience, eager for the excitement, quietened down.
`What next?'
Sudden pointed to Cullin, who, slumped in his seat, chin on chest, seemed oblivious to what was happening. Indeed, the revelation that the woman he coveted was married to the man he hated, following by the latter's triumph, had mentally stunned him. Put that man in the dock.'
Towler gasped, doubting his own ears. 'Cullin's the most powerful man in these parts,' he expostulated.
`Not just now,' Sudden reminded.
The old man shivered, called the sheriff, and gave the order. Camort convinced that his chief had gone mad,
