That's a lie or it ain't, as may be. If he was in the corral, t'other
wasn't. Boys--I won't detain ye any longer. Those in favour of hangin'
Thomas Ransom an' John Short here and now hold up their hands!"
The men present held up their hands. One or two of the more
bloodthirsty held up both hands.
"That'll do. Those in favour of takin' the prisoners to San Lorenzy
hold up their hands. Nary a hand! Prisoners ye've bin tried by yer
feller-men, and found guilty o' murder in the first degree. Have ye
anything to say?"
Smoky answered huskily: "Nothin', 'cept that I'm not guilty."
"An' you, Mr. Ransom?" said the 'Piker,' with odd politeness.
"I've a lot ter say," drawled the old man. "Seemingly murder has been
done, but Smoky here never done it; nor did I. I fired at a buck an'
missed it. There ain't overly much o' the fool in me, but there's
enough to make me hate ownin' up to a clean miss. When I got to the
corral this evening, Smoky had bin there an hour or so at least. He
arst me if I'd killed a buck and said he'd heard a shot. Wal, I lied,
but I saw that he suspicioned me. Afterwards, I reckon he'd a look at
the old gun, and found the shell in it.
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