He said he had suspected before that the people of that Territory were fools, and now he knew it.

But he said rest easy, rest easy and collect the witnesses, for the victory was just as certain as if the conflict were already over.

Hyde wiped away his tears and left.
At two in the afternoon referee Roop's Court opened and Roop appeared throned among his sheriffs, the witnesses, and spectators, and wearing upon his face a solemnity so awe-inspiring that some of his fellow-conspirators had misgivings that maybe he had not comprehended, after all, that this was merely a joke.

An unearthly stillness prevailed, for at the slightest noise the judge uttered sternly the command: "Order in the Court!" And the sheriffs promptly echoed it.

Presently the General elbowed his way through the crowd of spectators, with his arms full of law-books, and on his ears fell an order from the judge which was the first respectful recognition of his high official dignity that had ever saluted them, and it trickled pleasantly through his whole system: "Way for the United States Attorney!" The witnesses were called--legislators, high government officers, ranchmen, miners, Indians, Chinamen, negroes.