“Leave ‘t’ me,” muttered the old frontiersman gripping his chair.

“But you have given your evidence:  Wayland is our only chance left.  Don’t you see how they’ll clinch it?”

“Hold y’r head shut,” ordered Matthews.

Wayland was giving his evidence, as little as he could possibly give, it seemed to Eleanor, from the time he had telephoned down to her father to come and take corroborative proof of the value of the coal mines.

“You did not anticipate any trouble about the examination?”

“None whatever,” answered Wayland.  He had described the examination of the two tunnels and the preparation to go down the shaft when the Sheriff again whispered to the coroner.

“When MacDonald seemed to change his mind about going down the shaft, was there anyone visible except the Sheriff?”

“Not that I saw,” answered Wayland; and he went on to describe the cutting of the cable and the climb up the side of the shaft.

Eleanor became suddenly conscious that tense stillness reigned in the county court room.  Some man standing behind the back benches shuffled his feet and cleared his throat with an offensive “hem.”  The roomful of people looked back angrily.  The attorney had pencilled a line on a scrap of paper and shoved it across in front of the coroner.  Through the open windows, Eleanor could see that a great concourse of people was gathering outside.

“When you found the body, was anyone else present at the top of the shaft?”

For the fraction of a second, Eleanor wondered if they meant to cast suspicion on the Ranger.

“Yes,” answered Wayland, “the woman, Calamity was lying on the ground sobbing to break her heart.  No one else was visible.”

“You say the wound was such that it could not possibly have been self-inflicted?”

“You determined that for yourselves, when you examined the body,” answered Wayland.

“Was the woman’s position such that she might have shot him?”

“The shot was in the right temple, close; close enough to scorch the face!  You have the record of that!  The woman was kneeling on the ground a little to the left facing him.”

“Did she carry a weapon?”

“She did not.”

“How do you know she had not one concealed?”

“Because I caught her by the shoulders and lifted her up and shook her and said, ‘Calamity, who did this?’”

“What did she answer?”

The attorney was on his feet with a bang of his fist on the table that shut off the answer: 

“Mr. Coroner, this evidence has proceeded far enough to show that the death of the deceased gentleman had absolutely no connection whatever with the official examination of the mines.  The dead cannot defend themselves.  Out of respect to the deceased and the member of his family—­”

“That,” interrupted Matthews, breaking from his chair, “is the third time th’ insinuation has been thrown out that MacDonald had things in his life that wud na bear tellin’!  A know his life:  A know all his life:  ask me!”