“Now you old sot,” began the gambler, “you listen to me!  I suppose if they could shift suspicion so that it would appear you had had something to do with the old man’s murder, it would take Moxlow and the judge and any decent jury no time at all to hang you; for who would care a damn whether you were hanged or not!  But you needn’t worry, I’m going to manage this thing for you, I’m going to see that you don’t get into trouble.  Now, listen, you’re to let well enough alone.  North is already under suspicion apparently.  All right, we’ll help that suspicion along.  If you have anything to tell, you’ll say that the man who came over that shed looked like North!”

“Boss, I won’t say a word about the shed or the alley!”

“Oh, yes you will, Joe!  The man looked like North,—­you remember, at the time you thought he looked like North, and you thought you recognized his voice when he spoke, and you thought it was North’s voice.  He had on a black derby hat and a dark brown overcoat; don’t forget that, Joe, for we are going to furnish young Mr. North with a bunch of worries.”

The handy-man looked at him doubtfully, sullenly.

“I don’t want to hang him, he’s always treated me white enough, though I never liked him to hurt.”

Gilmore laughed unpleasantly.

“Oh, there’s no chance of that, your evidence won’t hang him, but it will give him a whole lot to think about; and Langham’s a pretty decent fellow; if you treat him right, he’ll keep you drunk for the rest of your days; you’ll own him body and soul.”

“A ignorant man like me couldn’t go up against a sharp lawyer like Marsh Langham!  Do you know what’d happen to me?  I’ll tell you; I’d get so damned well fixed I’d never look at daylight except through jail windows; that’s the trick I’d serve myself, boss.”

“I’ll take that off your hands,” said Gilmore.

“And what do you get out of it, boss?” inquired the astute Mr. Montgomery.

“You’ll have to put your trust in my benevolence, Joe!” said the gambler.  “But I am willing to admit I want to see North put where he’ll have every inducement to attend strictly to his own business!”

CHAPTER NINE

THE STAR WITNESS

It was between nine and ten o’clock when Marshall Langham reached his office.  He scarcely had time to remove his hat and overcoat when a policeman entered the room and handed him a note.  It was a hasty scrawl from Moxlow who wished him to come at once to the court-house.

As Moxlow’s messenger quitted the room Langham leaned against his desk with set lips and drawn face; this was but the beginning of the ordeal through which he must pass!  Then slowly he resumed his hat and overcoat.

The prosecuting attorney’s office was on the second floor of the court-house, at the back of the building, and its windows overlooked the court-house yard.