"Troopers! They are coming here," he said.
"Yes," said Winston. "I fancy they will relieve you from any further
difficulty."
Dane strode to one of the windows, and glanced at Colonel Barrington as
he pulled back the catch. Winston, however, shook his head, and a
little flush crept into Dane's bronzed face.
"Sorry. Of course you are right," he said. "It will be better that
they should acquit you."
No one moved for a few more minutes, and then with a trooper behind him
Sergeant Stimson came in, and laid his hand on Winston's shoulder.
"I have a warrant for your apprehension, farmer Winston," he said.
"You probably know the charge against you."
"Yes," said Winston simply. "I hope to refute it. I will come with
you."
He went out, and Barrington stared at the men about him. "I did not
catch the name before. That was the man who shot the police trooper in
Alberta?"
"No, sir," said Dane, very quietly. "Nothing would induce me to
believe it of him!"
Barrington looked at him in bewilderment. "But he must have
done--unless," he said, and ended with a little gasp. "Good Lord!
There was the faint resemblance, and they changed horses--it is
horrible."
Dane's eyes were very compassionate as he laid his hand gently on his
leader's shoulder.
"Sir," he said, "you have our sympathy, and I am sorry that to offer it
is all we can do. Now, I think we have stayed too long already."
They went out, and left Colonel Barrington sitting alone with a gray
face at the head of the table.
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