?

"If I'd set out to cache that hide," Tom here interposed, "I'd have
buried it. Only a darn fool would leave evidence like that laying
around in sight."

For this the court reprimanded him, but he had seen several of the
jury nod their heads, unconsciously agreeing with him. And although
his remark was never put on record, it stuck deep in the minds of the
jury and had its influence later on. They remembered that the
Lorrigans were no fools, and they considered the attempt at concealing
the hide a foolish one--not to say childish.

Tom's lawyer did not argue openly that a conspiracy had been hatched
against Tom Lorrigan, but he so presented the case in his closing
argument to the jury that each man believed he saw an angle to the
affair which the defense had overlooked. It appeared to the jury to be
a "frame-up." For instance, why had Cheyenne, a Lorrigan man, ridden
over to the Douglas ranch and remained outside by the corral for a
long time, talking with Aleck Douglas, before he went inside to call
on the Douglas girl? Sam Pretty Cow impassively testified to that. He
had been riding over to see a halfbreed girl that worked for the
Blacks, and he had cut through the Douglas ranch to save time. He saw
Cheyenne's horse at the corral.

"Me, I dunno what she's doin' on that place. Cheyenne, he's in camp
when I'm go. I'm stop by the haystack. I'm see Cheyenne talk to
Scotty. That don't look good, you bet."

A full week the trial lasted, while the lawyers wrangled over evidence
and technicalities, and the judge ruled out evidence and later ruled
it in again. A full week Tom slept in the county jail,--and for all
their bad reputation, it was the first time a Lorrigan had lain down
behind a bolted door to sleep, had opened his eyes to see the dawn
light painting the wall with the shadow of bars.

There were nights when his optimism failed him, when Tom lay awake
trying to adjust himself to the harrying thought that long, caged
years might be his portion. Nights when he doubted the skill of his
"law-sharp" to free him from the deadweight of the Lorrigan reputation
and the malice of his neighbors. Of course, he would fight--to the
last dollar; but there were nights when he doubted the power of his
dollars to save him.

It was during those nights that the lawless blood of the Lorrigans ran
swiftly through the veins of Tom, who had set himself to win a million
honestly. It was then that he remembered his quiet, law-abid