He could hardly have been afraid of Ralph's acquittal.

He may have been a little anxious at the manner in which he had been mentioned, and at the significant look of Ralph, and he probably meant to excite indignation enough against the school-master to break the force of his speech, and secure the lynching of the prisoner, chiefly by people outside his gang.
He rose and asked the court in gentlest tones to hear him.

He had no personal interest in this trial, except his interest in the welfare of his old schoolmate, Mr.Hartsook.He was grieved and disappointed to find the evidence against him so damaging and he would not for the world add a feather to it, if it were not that his own name had been twice alluded to by the defendant, and by his friend, and perhaps his confederate, John Pearson.

He was prepared to swear that he was not over in Flat Creek the night of the robbery later than ten o'clock, and while the statements of the two persons alluded to, whether maliciously intended or not, could not implicate him at all, he thought perhaps this lack of veracity in their statements might be of weight in determining some other points.

He therefore suggested--he could only suggest, as he was not a party to the case in any way--that his student, Mr.Walter Johnson, be called to testify as to his--Dr.Small's--exact whereabouts on the night in question.