n't there."

"No, but I'm going to make you tell what was there."

"You are, huh? Well, you crack yer whip. I like to see any feller
make me tell anything I don't want to tell."

"That's right, Curly," said some one back in the crowd. "No bluff
goes."

"Not in a hundred!" said Curly.

"Now, now, now!" began the judge drowsily. The prosecuting attorney
counselled of craftiness, at this juncture, foreseeing trouble if he
insisted. "Take the witness," he said abruptly.

"Cross-'xamine, d'fence," said the judge, settling back.

"Now, Curly," said Franklin, as he took up the questioning again,
"please tell us what Juan did after he saw this supposed figure in the
ashes."

"Why, now, Cap, you know that just as well as I do."

"Yes, but I want you to tell these other folks about it."

"Well, of course, Juan acted plenty _loco_--you know that."

"Very well. Now what, if anything, did you do to this alleged body in
the ashes?"

"'Bject! Not cross-examination," cried the State's attorney.

"M' answer," said the judge.

"What did I do to it?" said Curly. "Why, I poked it with a stick."

"What happened?"

"Why, it fell plumb to pieces."

"Did it disappear?"

"Shore it did. Wasn't a thing left."

"Did it look like a man's body, then?"

"No, it just looked like a pile o' ashes."

"Bore no trace or resemblance to a man, then?"

"None whatever."

"You wouldn't have taken it for a body, then?"

"Nope. Course not."

"Was any part of a body left?"

"Nary thing."

"Any boot, hat, or bit of clothing?"

"Not a single thing, fur's I c'd see."

"That's all," said Franklin.

"Re-direct, Mr. Prosecutor?" said the Court. This was Greek to the
audience, but they were enjoying the entertainment.

"Pass the re-direct," said the State's attorney confidently.

"Do you wish to recall this witness, Mr. Franklin?" asked the Court.

"Yes, if your Honour please. I want to take up some facts in the
earlier life of the prisoner, as bearing upon his present mental
condition."

"Very well," said the judge, yawning. "You may wait a while, Mr.
Haskins."

"Well, then, Curly," said Franklin, again addressing himself to his
witness, "please tell us how long you have known this prisoner."

"Ever since we was kids together. He used to be a _mozo_ on my pap's
ranch, over in San Saba County."

"Did you ever know him to receive any injury, any blow about the head?"

"Well, onct ole Hank Swartzman swatted