"Ah, that would be too beautiful!" he said.
And then he shivered; for his name was spoken from within.
It was soon plain to him that he need not have feared a few words, for he
did not in the least understand those with which the eminent surgeons
favored him; and they at once took their departure. He did understand,
however, what Horner told him. Mr. Barrett, Warren Smith, and the sleepy
young man had reentered the ward; and Horner was following, but waited for
Meredith. Somehow, the look of the sheriff's Sunday coat, wrinkling
forlornly from his broad, bent shoulders, was both touching and solemn. He
said simply: "He's conscious and not out of his head. They're gone in to
take his ante-mortem statement," and they went into the room.
Harkless's eyes were bandaged. The lawyer was speaking to him, and as
Horner went awkwardly toward the cot. Warren said something indicative of
the sheriff's presence, and the hand on the sheet made a formless motion
which Horner understood, for he took the pale fingers in his own, very
gently, and then set them back. Smith turned toward Meredith, but the
latter made a gesture which forbade the attorney to speak of him, and went
to a corner and sat down with his head in his hands.
The sleepy young man opened a notebook and shook a stylographic pen so
that the ink might flow freely. The lawyer, briefly and with unlegal
agitation, administered an oath, to which Harkless responded feebly, and
then there was silence.
"Now, Mr. Harkless, if you please," said Barrett, insinuatingly; "if you
feel like telling us as much as you can about it?"
He answered in a low, rather indistinct voice, very deliberately, pausing
before almost every word. It was easy work for the sleepy stenographer.
"I understand. I don't want to go off my head again before I finish. Of
course I know why you want this. If it were only for myself I should tell
you nothing, because, if I am to leave, I should like it better if no one
were punished. But that's a bad community over there; they are
everlastingly worrying our people; they have always been a bother to us,
and it's time it was stopped for good. I don't believe very much in
punishment, but you can't do a great deal of reforming with the Cross-
Roaders unless you catch them young--very young, before they're weaned--
they wean them on whiskey, I think. I realize you needn't have sworn me
for me to tell you this."
Homer and Smith had started at the mention of the Cross-Roads, but they
subdued their ejaculations, while Mr. Barrett looked as if he had known
it, of course. The room was still, save for the dim voice and the soft
transcribings of the stylographic pen.