e of time. He
was brooding on Monsieur Eloin usurping his own place near the Emperor,
and he wanted to finish the present business so as to overtake them
both.

Dupin's written evidence provided the rest of the abduction story,
seemingly, and there remained only the other charge, that of assisting
at the ambush of the murdered Captain Maurel. For this there was no
evidence, and the accused himself was examined.

"Your name?" asked the court.

"Driscoll."

"Your full name, hombre?"

"John Dinwiddie Driscoll, Your Honor."

"Din--whatever it is--that's not a Christian name?"

"It was, when I got it. Maybe I've paganized it since."

"Devil take you, this is solemn!"

"Yes, this is solemn."

Lopez cracked his long nails irritably against each other.

"You came here via Tampico," he began anew. "What days were you in
Tampico?"

"From about the twenty-third or twenty-fourth, till we left a few days
ago."

All three judges bent over a memorandum which the president pointed out
among his notes. Captain Maurel was killed about April 26th.

"How did you occupy yourself while in Tampico?"

"Mostly trying to persuade Murgie here that it was his move."

"But your horse needed exercise. Did you at any time ride across the
river?"

"I didn't notice. Have you anyone who saw me cross?"

"Goot!" blurted out the Austrian who was one of the judges, so suddenly
that everybody half jumped. "Ya, das iss die cosa, sabe! Who has him
seen cross?"

The court floundered. The witness demanded by the accused was lacking.
Murguia, a restless, huddled form on a straw-bottomed chair, was
watching hungrily every step in the examination. Now he shifted
excitedly, and his sharp jaws worked with a grinding motion. Then his
voice came, a raucous outburst.

"Search him, Your Mercy!"

Lopez browbeat the meddler, and--took his advice. Driscoll submitted
tolerantly to their fumbling over him, and all the while Murguia looked
on as a famished dog, especially when they pulled out the whiskey flask.
But when they tossed the thing aside, he sank deep into his black coat
and gave vent to mumblings.

"Of course we find nothing," Lopez complained, "since his accomplice
recommended the search."

It seemed, too, that the state's case must fall.

"The Captain Maurel charge cannot hold," announced the court.

"Ya, goot--mucha bueno!" exclaimed the Austrian with enthusiasm, while
the color sergeant, who had a red nose, wet his lips hopeful