e oath and fell back upon his seat. 'You assisted in this
villainy!' he shouted. They clinched, and I saw something shine dimly in
Mr. William Zane's hand. The report told me what it was. I lifted one
oar in a feeling of horror, and the boat swung round abruptly on the
blade of the other, and Mr. Rainey, released from the masther's grip,
fell overboard in the dark night."

Nothing was said by any person in the court except a suppressed "Bah!"
from Calvin Van de Lear.

"Silence! Order! I won't!" exclaimed the lame magistrate, rising from
his seat. "Now! Go on!"

"I dropped both oars in me terror, and one of them floated away in the
dark. We all stood up in the boat. 'My God!' exclaimed the masther,
'what have I done?' As quick as the beating of my heart he placed the
pistol at his own head. I saw the flash and heard the report. Mr.
William Zane fell overboard."

There was a shudder of horror for a moment, and then a voice outside the
window, hoarse and cheery, shouted to the outer crowd, "Andrew is
innocent! Three cheers for Andrew Zane!"

The people in and out of the warm and densely-pressed office
simultaneously gave cheers, calling others to the scene, and the old
magistrate, lame as he was, arose and looked happy.

"No arrests!" he cried. "Right enough! Good! Now, attention!"

But Andrew Zane kept his seat with an expression of obstinacy, and
glared at Calvin Van de Lear, who was trembling with rage.

"Well got up, on my word!" exclaimed Calvin. "Who is this fellow?"

"Go on and finish your story!" commanded Duff Salter.

"God forgive Mike Donovan, your Honor!" continued the witness. "I'm
afraid if Mr. William Zane had been the only man overboard I wouldn't
have risked me life. He was a hard, overbearin' masther. But I thought
of his poor son, standin' paralyzed-like, and the kind Mr. Rainey
drownin' in the wintry water, and I jumped down in the dark flood to
rescue one or both. From that day to this, the two partners I never saw.
It was months before I saw America at all, or the survivin' okkepant of
the boat."

"You may explain how that came to be," intimated Duff Salter, grimly
superintending the court.

"Well, sir! As I dived from the skiff my head encountered a solid
something which made me see a thousand flashes av lightning in one
second. I was so stunned that I had only instinct--I belave ye call it
that--to throw my ar-rum around the murthering object and hold like
death. Ye know, judge, how d