"You see," cried the attorney, "there is nothing as yet of which we can
accuse the Cross-Roads. If our friend has been hurt, it is much more
likely that these crooks did it. They escaped in time to do it, and we all
know they were laying for him. You want to be mighty careful, fellow-
citizens. Homer is already in telegraphic communication with every town
around here, and we'll have those men before night. All you've got to do
is to control yourselves a little and go home quietly." He could see that
his words (except those in reference to returning home--no one was going
home) made an impression. There rose a babble of shouting and argument and
swearing that grew continually louder, and the faces the lawyer looked
down on were creased with perplexity, and shadowed with an anger that
settled darker and darker.
Mr. Ephraim Watts, in spite of all confusion, clad as carefully as upon
the preceding day, deliberately climbed the fence and stood by the lawyer
and made a single steady gesture with his hand. He was listened to at
once, as his respect for the law was less notorious than his irreverence
for it, and he had been known in Carlow as a customarily reckless man.
They wanted illegal and desperate advice, and quieted down to hear it. He
spoke in his professionally calm voice.
"Gentlemen, it seems to me that Mr.
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