ke oath that you saw these two young men,
who are little more than boys, commit the awful crime of murder?" the
alcalde continued.

"Yes," promptly responded both men.

"Then, may God have mercy on your souls, if the accusations are false!
What have you to say to the accusation? Guilty; or, not guilty?" and the
alcalde turned abruptly to Thure and Bud.

"Not guilty," answered Thure, his face very white. "We--"

"That will do for the present," interrupted the alcalde. "Gentlemen, how
shall the case be tried?" and he turned to the surrounding crowd of
stern-faced men.

"Give 'em a jury, an' git a-goin'," called a rough voice impatiently.

"Do you wish a trial by jury?" and again the alcalde turned to Thure and
Bud.

"Yes," answered both boys.

"The trial will be by jury," announced the alcalde. "I summon to act as
this jury," and his eyes searched the circle of surrounding faces, as he
slowly called out the names of twelve men, who, as their names were
called, stepped forth and took their stations by the side of the alcalde
and in front of the prisoners and their accusers.

When the twelve jurymen had been selected, all were solemnly sworn by
the alcalde to render a true and just verdict, according to the evidence
presented; and the trial of Thure and Bud for the murder of John
Stackpole, the miner, was ready to begin.

During all this time Thure and Bud had been doing some very serious and
some very rapid thinking. At first the suddenness and the unexpectedness
of the rush of men upon them in the busy street, followed so swiftly by
their arrest and the dreadful accusations of the two men, whom they had
every reason to believe had committed the crime themselves, had almost
completely benumbed their faculties; but this condition of mind had
lasted only a short time, and long before they reached the place of
trial their minds were busy with the dreadful problem of how to prove
themselves innocent of the crime charged, when two men were ready to
swear that they saw them commit the crime, and when they did not have,
could not have, a single witness who could swear to the truthfulness of
their statements concerning the miner's death. No one but themselves had
seen him die; and, so far as they knew, no one but themselves and their
accusers knew the cause of his death. If they only had time to send
home--But, even if they had witnesses from home, what could they prove?
Only that the two boys had brought the dead mine