The Tale of Timber Town Part 64

"Having got into a bad streak, Jack, you must expect it to stick to you for a time. I did think as how you'd lost it when you come home with all that gold. But, you see, I was right at first; you're in it yet. There's no cure but to bear it. An' that you will, lad, like the man you are."

"We've come to cheer you up, Jack," said Sartoris, "an' I hope we've done it. But there's one thing that I believe is usual in these cases, an' that's a sky-pilot. I have heard as how a sky-pilot's more comfortin' to a man in gaol than anything else. What's your special brand? What kind do you fancy? I'm ashamed to say we've talked so little religion, Jack, that I don't know what religious crew you signed on with when you was young, but if there's any special breed o' parson you fancy, you've only got to give him a name, and if he lives in this town or within a radius of ten miles, he shall come an' minister to you reg'lar, or I'll know the reason why."

During this remarkable speech, Rose had quietly slipped out of the cell and, with her empty basket on her arm, had turned her steps homeward.

On rounding a corner of a street in the centre of the town, she almost ran into Rachel Varnhagen.

"Well, well, well, where have you been?" was the Jewess's greeting, as she stopped to talk to Rose.

"I've been to the gaol."

"To the gaol! Goodness, what for?"

Rose did not reply.

"I do believe you've been to see that contemptible murderer."

"If you mean a friend of mine, who was also a friend of yours who did you a great service, I beg you to stop."

"I mean that man Scarlett."

"And so do I."

"What! you've been speaking to _him_? You must be mad. The man's a murderer. It's awful!"

"You shouldn't judge him before he has been tried."

"The evidence is the same now as it will be then. There was a nugget of a strange shape, which a digger sold to poor Isaac Zahn, and it was found on your precious Scarlett when he was arrested."

Rose made no answer.

"And to think," Rachel continued, "that I was almost engaged to him."

"I never heard that," said Rose, coldly.

"My dear, I'm thankful to say n.o.body did, but he used to come regularly to our house when he was in town, and my stupid old father used to encourage him. Such an escape I never had. Fancy being married to a murderer. Ugh!"

"There's no need to fancy anything of the sort. You couldn't have married him till he asked you."

"But, dear, if he _had_, I should have accepted him. You know, he is so handsome. And he is awfully rich. My father wouldn't have heard of my refusing him. Certainly, he's not of our religion, but then we're not very orthodox. I'm afraid I should have accepted him: I'm sure I should.

And then, think of poor Isaac. I really _was_ fond of him. I know it now; but he was _so_ slow in making money--I couldn't waste all my life in waiting."

"You must feel his death dreadfully," said Rose.

"But it doesn't comfort me very much, when my friends go to see his murderer."

"I haven't been to see a murderer."

"Good gracious! If that awful Scarlett didn't murder him, who did?"

"I haven't the least idea, but I feel sure there's been a mistake on the part of the police."

"There's no mistake: they found the bodies yesterday in the bush."

As Rachel spoke, the two girls saw a strange procession coming down the street.

"Look!" cried Rachel, seizing Rose's arm for support. "Look what is coming."

In single file, slowly the searchers were carrying the bodies of the murdered men, wrapped in canvas and strapped to poles cut from the forest trees. As they advanced, a crowd, bare-headed and at every step increasing, accompanied the doleful procession. They pa.s.sed the spot where stood the two girls, the one supporting the other, and so disappeared out of sight.

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

Benjamin's Redemption.

The Supreme Court sat in the large hall of the wooden building, ornate with all the decorations of the Elizabethan style, which has been referred to in these pages as the Red Tape Office.

The hall was divided by a barrier, on one side of which were arranged the bench, dock, jury-box, and everything else appertaining to the functions of Justice; and on the other side stood the general public.

But as yet the Court was not a.s.sembled, save for half-a-dozen be-wigged barristers and a few policemen; and the public, crowded like cattle in a pen, discussed in suppressed tones such matters as seemed good.

Presently, a door beside the bench opened, and a very fat bailiff, preceding the Judge himself, who was followed by many minions of the law, advanced into the body of the court, and cried, "Silence for His Honor the Queen's Judge!" struck the b.u.t.t of his long staff upon the floor, and proceeded to deliver a long rigmarole, couched in early English, the tenor of which was that the proceedings about to take place were most solemn and dignified, and all men must keep silence in order that His Honour the Judge might hear himself speak.

Then the Judge seated himself on the bench, nodded to all the barristers, who thereupon immediately sat down likewise, and then the policemen, looking fiercely at the harmless, herded public, cried in angry tones for "Silence! Silence! Silence!" though not a man had so much as coughed since the great Judge had entered.

There seeming to be no fear of a demonstration against Law, Order, and Justice, a be-wigged gentleman who sat immediately in front of the Judge, in the manner that the clerk used to sit before the parson in the days of the three-decker pulpit, stood up, and after consulting various little bits of paper, called and empanelled the Grand Jury, a most important body of men, comprising all that was substantial and wealthy in Timber Town--short, fat men; tall, thin men; men of medium height; bullet-headed men, long-headed men, bald-headed men, and one man who was known to dye his hair; men whose stomachs rested on their knees as they sat; men who looked as though they had not had a full meal for a month; men dressed in tweeds; men dressed in black broad-cloth as if for a funeral; men with gay flowers in the b.u.t.ton-holes of their coats; bearded men, and shorn men; as varied an a.s.sortment of men as could p.r.o.nounce opinion on any case.

Each member of this queer company having been furnished with a little testament, the legal luminary administered the oath, and they kissed the book literally like one man, and sat down with a shuffling of feet that was truly disgraceful in so sedate an a.s.sembly.

They having chosen the fattest man of them all as their foreman, the Judge addressed them: "Mr. Foreman and gentlemen of the Grand Jury," he said, "give me your attention. Great crimes have been committed in your district,"--and not a man of them all but dropped his eyes and looked as if he felt himself guilty--"and great excitement has been caused in the public mind. But it is one of the highest triumphs of civilisation that we possess a wholesome system of procedure, whereby time is afforded to elapse for the abatement of popular excitement,"--here he glanced searchingly at the exemplary public on the other side of the barrier, as though he challenged one of them to move--"before such cases as those which will come before you, are heard." Here the Judge paused, and the jurymen looked at each other, as much as to say that after all they might escape. "But," continued His Honor, "we must take all proper precautions in such grave affairs as we are here to consider, lest the eye of reason should be jaundiced by prejudice, or become dazzled by pa.s.sion, or lest the arm of Justice should smite wildly and without discrimination." Every juryman looked at the Judge, to see if the state of his eye was clear and in keeping with this grave injunction. "The first case which will come before you is that of John Richard Scarlett, who is charged with the murder of Isaac Zahn and others. I am not sure as to what will be the form of the indictment, but I should suppose there will be four separate indictments, that is to say, the prisoner will be charged with the murder of each man killed. I now ask you to retire and consider this grave case with that perspicacity and unbia.s.sed judgment which I feel sure you are capable of exercising in so large a degree."

The Judge had made every juryman's breast swell with pride, and from their box they poured in a long stream, and clattered over the floor of the Court to the jury-room, the door of which stood ajar, ready to receive them.

The public portion of the hall was now crowded to excess, and the gallery above the main entrance was quickly filling. The people maintained perfect order, but on every face was an eager look which showed the intense interest that was being taken in the proceedings. But when the Judge retired, pending the decision of the Grand Jury, there broke out a hum of conversation, subdued but incessant. On the public side of the barrier there was nothing to be seen but a sea of faces, the faces of all sorts of men, and of not a few women, all waiting for the appearance of the prisoner. Suddenly at the back of this tightly-packed throng there arose a slight commotion, caused by a wild, unkempt man pushing his way through the doorway into the middle of the crowd. His hair was long and matted, his clothes were torn and covered with clay, his face was anxious yet determined. Having wedged himself into the living ma.s.s, his ident.i.ty soon became merged and lost in the mult.i.tude of men, work-stained and way-worn like himself. For almost the entire population of Canvas Town was a.s.sembled to hear the case against Scarlett; the aristocratic members of the League had come to see what fate awaited their president; solitary "hatters" had come to witness the discomfiture of "the boss of the toffs"; the female portion of the concourse had been attracted by the romance which was believed to underlie the tragedy; while the townsmen were there out of sympathy with the young banker whom they had all known. Filling all available s.p.a.ce in the hall and overflowing into the great quadrangle outside, this motley crowd discussed the case against Scarlett in all its bearings, though there was a dense ignorance on the part of the critics as to the evidence that would be called. To everything he heard the wild, unkempt man turned a deaf ear; regarding, as he undoubtedly did, the self-appointed judges around him with silent contempt and some degree of amus.e.m.e.nt.

At length the door of the jury-room opened, and the head of a Grand Juror was thrust out. To him a constable immediately whispered. The Grand Jury had come to a decision, and the Judge was summoned from his room.

No sooner had the great man taken his seat, than amid a murmur of excitement the prisoner was placed in the dock. He looked thin and care-worn. On his legs were heavy irons, and handcuffs were upon his wrists. Otherwise he was as when first arrested; he wore the same riding-breeches and leggings, and the same tweed coat.

Then the Grand Jury filed solemnly in, and stood in a big semicircle between the barrier and the Court, the foreman standing a little in front of his fellows.

"Mr. Foreman and gentlemen of the Grand Jury, how do you find in the case of John Richard Scarlett, charged with the murder of Isaac Zahn?"

"A true bill, Your Honour," answered the foreman.

"How do you find in the case of John Richard Scarlett, charged with the murder of James Kettle?"