`Can you prove that?' the Judge asked, and Gilman laughed. `I reckon,' the nester said. `Mister Williams.'
The manager of the bank stood up; nearing fifty, with a keen, clever face, he took little part in the activities of the town outside his business, and was generally respected.
`Mister Drait is a customer,' he began quietly. `Recently he drew out two sums of seven hundred and three hundred and fifty dollars exactly. At his request, I noted down the numbers of the bills.' He paused, and Sudden, watching Gilman, saw the swift dawn of apprehension in his eyes. `Those identical bills, in amounts as issued, have returned to the bank,' Williams resumed. `They were paid in by Mister Gilman to his private account.'
The simple statement hit the audience like a landslide. Cries of amazement and oaths of disgust came from all sides, and in the hubbub, Gilman--almost stunned by this crushing blow--lost his head.
`You made a mistake, Williams,' he shouted. `I meant it for the ranch account.'
Instantly Drait cut in. `Take notice, Judge; he admits I paid for the cattle.'
Williams spoke again. `The bank does not make mistakes, Mister Gilman; I overheard your instruction to my clerk on both occasions. However, since you now say these sums belong to the S P, I will see that they are transferred.'
The foreman forgot to thank him. He realised that he had completely given himself away, and that personal peril had taken the place of the triumph for which he had plotted. He stood there, head down, shooting furtive glances in quest of a friendly face and failing to find it. But his ordeal was non yet over.
`Got rid of any other stock lately?' Drait asked, and when he got a sullen denial, `What about the hundred three-year-olds sold to Bardoe? Lyin' won't help you, fella; I have it here in yore own fist.'
Gilman recognised the slip of paper, and despite the heat of the crowded room, was conscious of a chilliness. How much more did this devil of a nester know?
`I forgot,' he mumbled. `They ain't bin settled for.'
`That coin was due to the S P?' The foreman nodded. `Then you'll be glad to know it was placed no the credit o' the ranch some weeks back.'
Gilman turned a vindictive glare on Bardoe, which Drait easily interpreted. `On'y partly right,' he said. `Bull provided the gold, but I collected an' paid it in.'
Towler became aware that the 8 B man was regarding him with a heavy frown, and that he was expected to do something about it. He fired a question at Drait :
`Anything more to say?'
`On'y this,' Nick replied. `I want you to get the layout. Gilman sold me the cattle an' put the proceeds in his pocket. Then he frames this charge, hopin' I'll hang. If it happens thataway, he gets the stock back, an' is one hundred an' fifty bucks to the good, with nobody the wiser. It's a safe bet he meant to play the same game when Bardoe paid up.'
As Drait sat down, Pilch shouted, `Well done Shadow Valley,' and there was considerable applause. The Judge rapped sharply on the desk.
`Silence! or I'll clear the court,' he cried.
The storekeeper was not no be intimidated. `Which I'd admire for you to try, Judge,' he said derisively, and raised a laugh.
The sheriff was whispering to the man on the Bench. `He's got us cinched,' he said anxiously. `Ain't there no way to ditch him?'
The Judge considered, and then his weak mouth twisted into a vicious smile, as he rapped again for attention. `The case is not yet finished,' he said. `It is clear that the cattle the accused claims to have bought were stolen by Gilman for his own profit. Now, if Drait knew this, he becomes liable to charges of conspiring and receiving.'
The foreman saw an opportunity to bite; he could hardly make his own situation worse. `An' that's how it was, Judge,' he called out. `We fixed it up atween us.'
`If the accused has any statement to make I am ready to listen,' Towler said blandly, as though conferring a favour.
Drait rose; this was an unexpected development, and he did not like it. `Gilman, as foreman in charge, had the power to dispose o' stock,' he explained quietly. `I bought, an' took steps to protect myself against a possible snare. What had I to gain by his crookedness?'
`You got yore cattle damned cheap,' Bardoe suggested.
`Not so damned cheap either--I would 'a' let him have some at the price,' Vasco chimed in. `An' if seven a head is cheap for calves, what about the three-year-olds you got for ten?'
Bardoe subsided, inwardly cursing himself. In his eagerness to strike a blow at the nester, he had forgotten his own position.
Cullin had listened unmoved, but only to appearance. From the moment Gilman's dishonesty had been revealed, he knew the day was lost. Towler's persistency was only making matters worse--he was showing bias too plainly. With Gilman and Bardoe discredited, and Vasco in the other camp, the position was perilous. His agile brain evolved a master move to snatch a personal victory out of defeat; by defending Drait he would score with the townsfolk, and avert suspicion from himself if misfortune fell upon the nester in the future. He stood up, and the room became silent.
`In the interest of justice,' he began, `I must point out that the on'y evidence against the accused is the word of a thief who has a'ready lied to the court.'
The Judge stared; he knew he was about to receive orders, but he had to present some sort of a front.
`What do you mean, sir?' he asked.
`Gilman said the stolen herds were gathered for branding! Now he claims that was done by arrangement with Drait. Which statement you goin' to accept?'
`I have not yet directed the jury, Mister Cullin,' Towler said loftily. `Anything else?'
The rancher bit his lip. All right, if the old fool would have it. `Yeah, I very much doubt if, havin' found a man innocent of the offence he was accused of, you have the right to bring in another charge. I know little o' the Law, but mebbe Mister Seale will give us an opinion.'
The lawyer was on his feet instantly, beady eyes agleam: at that moment he almost liked the rancher. Only a month or so previously he had sat in that same place, squirming under the castigating tongue of the man he now had an opportuniny to repay. The Weasel was not one to forget.
`With due respect, I submit that the court is exceeding its powers, and there is nothing in the statunes to justify such procedure,' he said. `In any case, a conviction on the testimony so far adduced would be a judicial crime.'
He sat down, and the room gasped. Towler's pale face had become purple, and he would have joyfully murdered the man who had brought this humiliation upon him. But he was impotent, and knew it. Ignoring the lawyer, he addressed Cullin:
`If you had been a little more patient, sir, you would have heard me instruct the jury to entirely exonerate the accused on both charges,' he explained ponderously. `It was for his benefit I decided that the second--and possible--charge should be dealt with now.'
The verdict having been formally recorded, the Judge dismissed the jury, and remembered he still had a duny to perform. `Sheriff, you will take the fellow, Gilman, into custody and hold him for trial,' he ordered.
Silent, chin on chest, the foreman slouched out, a deputy on either side. Camort followed, glad of an excuse to get away from friends and foes, neither of whom would spare him. The Judge too picked up his hat and departed, bitterly conscious that he had cut a sorry figure.
When Nick and the puncher tried to slip away they found themselves surrounded by a surging section of the crowd yelling crude congratulations, and struggling to get near enough to slap the nester on the back or grab a hand. He endured the ordeal with a sardonic grin, conscious that some of them, anyway, would have striven as strenuously to see him hanged.
`Awright, boys,' he called. `The drinks are shore on me, but you'll have to go to Merker's for 'em.'