u own more than one knife of this sort?"

"I do not."

"Did you ever own more than one like this?"

"Not at the same time."

"Then you have lost a knife like this?"

"No; but I have broken two."

"When did you last see deceased alive?"

"Not since our encounter on the street; that was a week ago, I should
think, perhaps longer."

"Who witnessed that affair?"

"Mr. Vandyck was with me; the others were strangers."

"That is all, Doctor Heath."

Lawyer O'Meara comes next; his testimony is brief, and impatiently
given. He adds nothing new to the collected evidence.

Next comes the man Rooney, and he rehearses the scene at "Old Forty
Rods," sparing himself as much as possible.

"We didn't really think he'd go to Doctor Heath's," he says in
conclusion. "We all called it a capital joke, and agreed to go out and
look him up after a little. He was reeling drunk when he went out, and
we all expected to find him floored on the way. After a while, an hour
perhaps, we started out, half a dozen of us, with a lantern, and went
along the road he had taken; we went almost to Heath's cottage, looking
all about the road as we went. When we did not find him, we concluded
that he had gone straight home, and that if we staid out longer the
laugh would be on us. So we went back, and agreed to say nothing about
the matter to Burrill when we should see him."

"How near did you come to Doctor Heath's house?"

"Very near, sir; almost as near as we are now."

"But you were in the opposite direction."

"Just so, sir; we came from the town."

"Did you hear any movements; any sounds of any sort?"

"Nothing particular, sir; we were making some noise ourselves."

"Did you meet any one, either going or coming?"

"No, sir; but a man might easily have passed us in the dark on the other
side of the road."

Five men confirm Rooney's statement, and every word weighs like lead
against Clifford Heath.

John Burrill left the saloon to go to Doctor Heath's house; in drunken
bravado, he would go at night to disturb and annoy the man who had,
twice, in public, chastised him, and on both occasions uttered a threat
and a warning; unheeding these, he had gone to brave the man who had
warned him against an approach--and he has never been seen alive since;
he has been found dead, murdered, hidden away near the house of the man
who had said: "If he ever should cross my path, rest assured I shall
know how to dispose of him."

These words d