amazement to the way in which the
enquiry had been conducted, and he knew that if some one did not
interfere, the one who was really guilty would escape.

"May I be allowed to speak?" he asked.

"Yes, I suppose so, providing you are brief and to the point," was the
somewhat reluctant assent.

"I have been very much surprised at this enquiry," Douglas began, "and
I wish to call attention to certain matters which have been passed over
without any consideration at all. These men before you, sir, have
pleaded guilty to the charges which I made against them. They have
confessed that they were given liquor and ordered to attack me last
Friday night. But you have not asked them who the person is who
ordered the attack and gave them the whiskey. Is it not right that you
should do so, sir, that we may know who was really at the bottom of
that cowardly affair?"

"Hear, hear," came from several in the audience. "You are right. Let
us know the person's name."

"Your question has no bearing upon this case," Squire Hawkins angrily
replied. "These offenders have acknowledged their guilt, and they
alone are the responsible ones and must bear the whole blame."

"But why did they attack me?" Douglas asked. "They had no ill will
against me; they were merely tools in the hands of another. The one
who set them on evidently wished to do me an injury. He is the guilty
one, and I demand that you inquire who he is."

"Then you can keep on demanding," was the surly response. "I am
conducting this case and not you."

A murmur of disapproval passed through the audience, and several cries
of "Shame" were heard. Squire Hawkins was feeling very angry and at
the same time uneasy. He was between two fires. He was afraid of the
people, and yet he had a greater fear of the Stubbles. As he
hesitated, not knowing what to do, Tom Totten cleared his throat and
turned partly around.

"If yez want to know who put us on to that nasty job, I'll tell yez,"
he began. "It was Ben Stubbles who did it. He gave us the whiskey,
an' ordered us to waylay Jake Jukes' hired man an' beat him up. That's
God's truth, an' we are all ready to swear to it."

During the inquiry Ben had entered the hall and remained near the door.
He listened to all that took place with much amusement. He felt
perfectly secure and trusted to Squire Hawkins to shield him from any
blame. He enjoyed Douglas' apparent defeat when his request was
refused. But Tom's vo