three days ago! The very time that he swore he
was on his way from San Francisco to the diggings! The very day that he
swore he saw the prisoners kill the miner in the Sacramento Valley!"

"Right. He sart'in was in Hangtown three days ago. I reckon I otter
know, seein' I was one on 'em tew help run him out. Ay, Skoonly," and
Ham jerked the cringing man around in front of the alcalde. "Now, what
might be th' trouble with that arm?" and he glared down at the bandaged
arm of Skoonly, who had submitted to all these indignities, almost
without a protest. He knew Hammer Jones.

"He said," answered the alcalde, "that his horse threw him and broke his
arm a little while before he saw the murder committed and that that was
why he had not gone to the help of the miner."

"Huh!" and again Ham snorted scornfully, then a sudden gleam came into
his eyes, and he turned quickly to the alcalde. "Supposing" he grinned,
"you have that broken arm investigated. 'Twouldn't s'prise me none tew
find it a durned good arm yit."

"Good!" and the alcalde smiled. "Skoonly can't object, because it will
be a strong point in his favor, if we find the arm really broken."

"But I do object," protested Skoonly emphatically, his face becoming
livid. "Th' pain'll be sumthin' awful; an' doc said that it mustn't be
taken out of the splints for a month on no account."

"Objection overruled," declared the alcalde, who had been watching the
man's face. "Here," and he turned to the foreman of the jury, "this
appears like a proper point for you to investigate. I'll turn him over
to you. Be careful and not hurt the arm any more than you are compelled
to," and he smiled.

The crowd, which by this time had formed a close and deeply interested
circle around the dramatic characters in the little drama that was here
being enacted, watched with tense and grim faces, the foreman, aided by
a couple of his fellow jurymen, slowly unwind the bandages from
Skoonly's arm. If they had been fooled, if they had been led by false
testimony almost to hang two innocent men, nay, boys, their wrath
against the false accusers would be sudden and terrible.

Skoonly yelled and squirmed, when they began unwinding the bandages from
his arm, as if the action caused him the most intense pain, and begged
them to stop, while his face grew so white that even Ham himself began
to fear that the arm, at least, bore no false testimony; but the
unwinding went steadily on.

And, lo and beh