ied up on the edge of a fill he had counted on finishing up
before his crew went out for the winter, and the nearest spark arrester
farther off than Christmas."

A ripple of amusement ran through the crowded room, but little Banks stood
waiting frostily. When his glance caught the judge's smile, his eyes
scintillated their blue light. "Likely Foster would have sent his order
out and had those arresters shipped around Cape Horn from New York," he
added. "They'd probably been in time for spring travel; but he opened
another bunch of mail and found there wouldn't be any more sparks.
Washington, D.C., had shut down his coal mine."

Mr. Bromley had no further questions to ask. He seemed preoccupied and
passed the recess that followed the prospector's testimony in pacing the
corridor. Lucky Banks had been suggested as an intelligent and honest
fellow on whom the Government might rely; but his statements failed to
dovetail with his knowledge of Alaska and the case, and after the
intermission Tisdale was called.

The moment he was sworn, Miles Feversham was on his feet. He held in his
hand a magazine, in which during the recess, he had been engrossed, and
his forefinger kept the place.

"I object to this witness," he said sonorously and waited while a stir,
like a gust of wind in a wood, swept the courtroom, and the jury
straightened, alert. "I object, not because he defrauded the widow of
David Weatherbee out of her half interest in the Aurora mine, though,
gentlemen, you know this to be an open fact, but for the reason that he is
a criminal, self-confessed, who should be serving a prison sentence, and a
criminal's testimony is not allowable in a United States court."

Before he finished speaking, or the Court had recovered from the shock,
Mr. Bromley had taken a bundle of papers from his pocket and stepped close
to the jury box.

"This is an infamous fabrication," he exclaimed. "It was calculated to
surprise us, but it finds us prepared. In ten minutes we shall prove it
was planned six months ago to defame the character of the Government's
witness at this trial. I have here, gentlemen, a copy of the Alaska record
showing the transfer of David Weatherbee's interest in the Aurora mine to
Hollis Tisdale; it bears the signature of his wife. But this extract from
Mr. Tisdale's will, which was drawn shortly after his return from Alaska,
last year, and while he was dangerously ill in Washington, proves how far
it was from his