he express intention of seeking her employer. What she intended
to do when she found him, we cannot know; for the woman was plainly
insane and her word is worthless."

Bat wore a tallow smile. The attorney's expression became inscrutable.
Sheriff Flood's face shone as a new moon. The other faces were a
puzzled blank.

"You want to check that," whispered the news editor to Wayland.
Matthews was being questioned.

"Before A proceed t' answer y'r verra civil inquiries, Mr. Coroner, A
wud ask the privilege o' puttin' three questions!"

"Go ahead, Sir!"

"Why is the man O'Finnigan not here?"

"Still drunk," answered the Sheriff.

"Then, if A commit a crime, if A cut y'r throat, Mr. Coroner, all A
have t' do t' avoid awkward questions, is t' fill up? Verra well! Why
is the woman Calamity, herself, not here?"

"Can't be found," called Wayland.

"So that if A'm accused of a crime A know no more about than th' babe
unborn, all A've t' do t' rivet that crime on myself for life is not to
be found? Verra well--"

"Sir," interrupted the coroner.

"A wud ask why is that little Irish lassie not here?"

Mrs. Williams explained that Lizzie, having exhausted the Indian
children with her boastings in two days, had lost interest in life and
run back to the slums.

"A always did say if y' took a pig out o' a pen an' putt it in a
parlor, 'twould feel lonesome for its hogwash," exclaimed the old
frontiersman running a puzzled hand through his mop of white hair.
Matthews also was twice interrupted in his testimony. He was
explaining that he anticipated trouble about the mine from what had
already happened on the Rim Rocks when Wayland trod forcibly and
sharply on his foot; and all reference to the pursuit across the Desert
was omitted. The coroner, it seemed, did not want any details about
the Rim Rocks. The second interruption came when he began to quote
Mistress Lizzie O'Finnigan's words those afternoons on the Ridge. The
attorney sprang up:

"As the child is an incorrigible liar and her father an incorrigible
drunkard, Mr. Coroner, I think it only fair to the Company that their
aspersions and reference to us be stricken off the records;" and the
coroner instructed the stenographer to erase all reference to Lizzie's
babbling.

The old frontiersman sat back with a dazed feeling that while he had
expressed anticipation of trouble at the mine, he had failed to give
proof or reason for that anticipation.

Brydges