CHAPTER XIV.

AN UNEXPECTED CLIMAX.

"Order!" thundered "his honor."

The command of the court received but slight attention, as one and all turned to see what the commotion meant.

To the intense surprise of the onlookers, a tall, gray-bearded man, with long, white hair falling about his shoulders, was trying to force his way through the excited throng. Seeming to tower above those around him, the wild grandeur of the new arrival was given an additional picturesqueness by the presence of a gray squirrel standing boldly upright on either shoulder!

Few in the room had ever seen the newcomer, though all had heard of Old Solitaire, the mysterious hermit of the Kanawha range.

Squire Claverton looked upon him with dismay, demanding:

"What means this intrusion?"

"I have come to speak for the boy!" cried the strange man. "There is a conspiracy afoot to put him down, but, by the Great Kanawha! it shall not be done. He has——"

"Order!" cried Justice Claverton, turning very red in the face.

"Order and justice and equal rights!" cried the hermit. "These stories they have told are all false."

"Stop!" yelled Claverton. "Are we to be interrupted by a crazy man?"

"Put him down!" some one shouted.

"Silence!" commanded the sheriff, his words bringing the desired effect. "I will look after this madman," pushing his way through the crowd to the stranger's side.

"I am here only in the cause of justice," said the old man, trembling in every limb as he spoke. "The boy has done nothing wrong."

"Then he will not be injured," replied Sheriff Brady. "You can go on with your examination if you wish, your honor."

Amid a profound silence, Leonard Jones, the private secretary of Mr. Warfield, was asked to tell what he knew about the case, when he stated that his employer, expecting so many letters and not getting them, had sent him to ascertain if they had not been delayed on the route, and that he had learned that three more than he had received had really got as far as the Greenbrier office, after which no trace of them could be found.

Mr. Rimmon at this juncture seemed about to speak, but he remained silent, knowing that he had not helped the postboy any by his previous hasty words.

Following Mr. Jones' evidence, Dan Shag and two or three others were called upon the stand to testify to such circumstances as they knew in regard to the postboy's last trip.

"If it please your honor," said Mr. Rimmon at this juncture, "I think the boy should be given a chance to show why he was late and how he came in as he did."

"He shall have the opportunity to speak for himself, Mr. Rimmon. Prisoner at the bar, what have you to say to coming in here an hour after you were due on Wednesday?"

"It was unavoidable, sir."

"Was it a part of your duty to go off gunning after caves and leaving your mail unprotected for a full hour?"

"No, sir."

"I thought not."

"If it please your honor, I would like to tell how I came to do so."

"Your admission that you did so is sufficient. You acknowledge the package of Hollow Tree mail was found in your possession?"

"It was taken from the pocket I have on my saddle, but I——"

"That is sufficient, sir. You acknowledge that you came in to-night an hour late, in a condition unfitting an employee of the government?"

"I was late, sir, on account of coming over a path through the wilderness of the Greenbrier district."

"Does Uncle Sam say that you are to carry his treasures through the wilderness?"

"No, sir. But I want to explain how I was obliged to come that way if I got here at all."

"It is not necessary."

"It seems to me," said Mr. Rimmon, "and I have more interest in that matter than any one present, that it is not only necessary, but an act of justice to the court itself that your honor listen to Mr. Lewis' account. He came over the mountains by a tedious footpath, not from choice, but from necessity. He deserves our praise rather than our condemnation for his heroic conduct. If our road surveyors had done their duty, his duty would have been easy."

"Let me speak," cried the hermit, at this juncture. "It was all an infamous scheme——"

"Order!" thundered the court. "We can't be broken into by a mad fool. Put him out if necessary, Mr. Brady."

"Another word, and I'll pitch you into the road," said the sheriff.

Old Solitaire showed that he was laboring under great excitement, though he did not offer to speak.

"This is no place for senseless stories told by boys," said "his honor." "If you have any reasonable excuse to offer for your folly, Dix Lewis, you will have plenty of opportunity to give it in the higher court. You have admitted enough to condemn you to prison for the rest of your days, and I can do no different than to place you under indictment on at least three charges, which I now do."

"Sheriff Brady, you will please take the prisoner to a safe place, until you are called upon to deliver him up by a higher authority."

By this time great confusion was reigning in the room.

Mrs. Lewis was weeping and wringing her hands in wild abandon of grief, while Little Snap was trying to speak an encouraging word.

"They shan't take my boy off to jail! He has done nothing wrong!"

In vain Justice Claverton called for order, until the voice of Mr. Rimmon silenced the babel of sounds.

"Your honor, you cannot ignore the rights of the prisoner thus. He has certain privileges you cannot and shall not deny him. He is at least entitled to bail, as no capital charge has been made against him."

"Yes, I might do it as a matter of form, but it would make no difference in the result, for who is there would go on his bonds?"

"Fix the sum."

"Five thousand dollars."

"An outrageous amount; but how will the names of Jason Warfield and myself do?"

"Mr. Warfield is not in town, Mr. Rimmon."

"I understand he has just returned. Make out the papers, and I will see that he signs them with me."

A deep silence now hung over the scene.

"Bah! this makes it all a farce!" exclaimed the rasping tone of Morton Meiggs. "I give notice here and now that I withdraw from the prisoner's mail bond."

"So do I!" echoed Clevis Claverton.

"I appoint Daniel Shag as mail carrier between Six Roads and Upper Loop offices, with all the privileges and responsibilities that pertain to the route. He is to begin his duties to-morrow at six o'clock," declared Justice Claverton.

Immediately following this announcement renewed confusion began, the excited words ensuing proving that the postboy had many friends present, though they were not in a position to help him.

Without much delay, the signature of Jason Warfield was secured for the bail, which, with that of Mr. Rimmon, gained Little Snap his freedom until the convening of the court.

"Have good courage, Dix," said Mr. Rimmon, as Little Snap left the building, accompanied by his mother, "and we will hope you will come out all right. I hardly think the road authorities will get the way clear for you to go through to-morrow, but you had better be on hand to go. Don't let it be any fault of yours if the mail does not go through."

"But Mr. Claverton appointed Mr. Shag to go in my place."

"Come to the office at six in the morning for the mail and you will get it. I don't know anything of Dan Shag in that capacity. Justice Claverton's appointment seems to me very irregular, to put it mildly."

After thanking the postmaster for his kindness, Little Snap sought his home in better spirits than he had felt before the ending of the scene at Lawyer Claverton's office.

Though no one seemed to notice it, not even the postboy, Old Solitaire had disappeared immediately after the discharge of the prisoner.