Part 21 (1/2)

”'E 'as not slept the night; 'e 'as nothing eat the day; I fear 'im _malade_. I follow him.”

Galbraith continued his examination, and elicited from the witness the admission that he had remained outside the cabin that night, concealed in the bushes, and had only left it after Horton had taken his departure. He had then started to return, but after he had gone a mile he retraced his steps with the intention of cooking for his master's breakfast a brace of quail he had shot on the way. He found the cabin empty, and on the wall the portrait which he had seen sketched. It was where it would have been easily effaced, and so he had loosened the board on which the drawing was made, and carried it to his house.

Graham was now recalled and questioned.

”Mr. Graham, you have told the court that you are an artist by profession. Is it your habit to make drawings of persons of a striking appearance?”

”I have the habit of sketching any remarkable-looking people whom I happen to meet.”

”On the night in question, were you impressed by anything uncommon in the appearance of the man who slept by the fire in the lodge?”

”I was.”

”Did you make any notes of the impression made on you by the man?”

”I did. I sketched him as he crouched in the ashes of the fire.”

”What materials did you use?”

”A charred piece of wood, and a smooth board in the side of the cabin.”

”Would you recognize your work if you should see it?”

”Undoubtedly.”

”By what means?”

”I should recognize it as you would your own handwriting; besides--”

”You have other means of knowing it?”

”My initials will be found in the upper right-hand corner of the sketch.”

”Is this the sketch?”

”It is.”

There was a craning of necks, and a murmur of recognition from those present who could obtain a glimpse of the strong drawing held up by Maurice Galbraith. Graham's words in answer to the last question were hardly necessary to prove the resemblance. Horton, sitting in his chair, his head thrown back, his hands clasping his knees, had all-unconsciously a.s.sumed the pose in which Graham had sketched him. The resemblance was indubitable, and the cheeks bore the b.l.o.o.d.y testimony of Ah Lam's hands.

This was evidence which there was no breaking down; and Horton, when the sketch was at last turned so that he could see it, gave an oath under his breath, which was not lost upon the jury. The twelve men with whom lay the decision of Horton's guilt or innocence were for the most part tradesmen and mechanics, the only exception being in the person of Mr.

Patrick Shallop, the mining king, who by some strange chance had been impanelled on this occasion. The voice of such a man would carry great weight in the decision. The case was evidently going against the prisoner. The evidence of the prosecution was very damaging, and Horton's friends in the crowd were greatly discouraged.

The trial occupied several hours, and ended in the conviction of Daniel Horton. Maurice Galbraith made a speech which has already become famous. He had induced a Californian jury to p.r.o.nounce a man who had killed a Chinaman guilty of voluntary manslaughter. He had obtained this almost unprecedented verdict, and a full sentence from the court of ten years' imprisonment. The efforts of the defending counsel to turn the main interest in the case from the chief feature, by endeavoring to implicate Graham in the attempted abduction, were useless. Horton's real confederate was found, and the truth of the matter arrived at.

Through the newspaper accounts of Millicent, published at the time of her rescue of Graham, these men had learned that she was a rich heiress, and had conceived the bold idea of carrying her off in order to extort a large sum of money for her ransom.

The flimsy tissue of lies which Pierson had woven was quickly unravelled by Galbraith. The fact that the jury had for a time been misled by the false evidence, made their verdict more immediately unanimous than it might otherwise have been; and the cloud which had for a moment overhung John Graham was dispelled as quickly as a noxious vapor is blown away by a brisk westerly wind. He was cleared of every suspicion. Galbraith had surpa.s.sed himself in his management of the case, even in the eyes of his warmest friends. Had he not been working for the woman he loved?

In exonerating his rival, he had done the only thing that in him lay to win Millicent's grat.i.tude. She had thanked him, and blessed him for his eloquence with tears and smiles. He had gained her friends.h.i.+p; and does not friends.h.i.+p soften into love more often than love crystallizes into friends.h.i.+p?

CHAPTER XIX.