HICKORY'S face was no new one to the court. He had occupied a considerable portion of one day in giving testimony for the prosecution, and his rough manner and hardy face, twinkling, however, at times with an irrepressible humor that redeemed it and him from all charge of ugliness, were well known not only to the jury but to all the _habitues_ of the trial. Yet, when he stepped upon the stand at the summons of Mr. Orcutt, every eye turned toward him with curiosity, so great was the surprise with which his name had been hailed, and so vivid the interest aroused in what a detective devoted to the cause of the prosecution might have to say in the way of supporting the defence. The first question uttered by Mr. Orcutt served to put them upon the right track. "Will you tell the court where you have been to-day, Mr. Hickory?" "Well," replied the witness in a slow and ruminating tone of voice, as he cast a look at Mr. Ferris, half apologetic and half reassuring, "I have been in a good many places----" "You know what I mean," interrupted Mr. Orcutt. "Tell the court where you were between the hours of eleven and a quarter to one," he added, with a quick glance at the paper he held in his hand. "Oh, _then_," cried Hickory, suddenly relaxing into his drollest self. "Well, _then_, I was all along the route from Sibley to Monteith Quarry Station. I don't think I was stationary at any one minute of the time, sir." "In other words----" suggested Mr. Orcutt, severely. "I was trying to show myself smarter than my betters;" bowing with a great show of respect to the two experts who sat near. "_Or_, in other words still, I was trying to make the distance between Mrs. Clemmens' house and the station I have mentioned, in time sufficient to upset the defence, sir." And the look he cast at Mr. Ferris was wholly apologetic now. "Ah, I understand, and at whose suggestion did you undertake to do this, Mr. Hickory?" "At the suggestion of a friend of mine, who is also somewhat of a detective." "And when was this suggestion given?" "After your speech, sir, yesterday afternoon." "And where?" "At the hotel, sir, where I and my friend put up." "Did not the counsel for the prosecution order you to make this attempt?" "No, sir." "Did he not know you were going to make it?" "No, sir." "Who did know it?" "My friend." "No one else?" "Well, sir, judging from my present position, I should say there seems to have been some one else," the witness slyly retorted. The calmness with which Mr. Orcutt carried on this examination suffered a momentary disturbance. "You know what I mean," he returned. "Did you tell any one but your friend that you were going to undertake this run?" "No, sir." "Mr. Hickory," the lawyer now pursued, "will you tell us why you considered yourself qualified to succeed in an attempt where you had already been told regular experts had failed?"