It was a surprise to Hammond, and evidently to Marvin, too, that Bill should know anything of the details of either the lease of the railroad company or of what payment had been promised to Mrs. Jones. A great light flashed on Marvin--obviously Bill Jones had not been altogether wasting his time during his prolonged disappearance! Hammond, beginning to suspect that Bill knew more than he had been given credit for, decided that ignorance was the best stand to take. "How should I know the petty details of the railroad's lease?" he said. "How should _you_ know?" echoed Bill, his voice raised, unwontedly clear and ringing. "Didn't the railroad lease the waterfall from a bum concern called the Golden Gate Land Company? Didn't you, actin' for the Golden Gate Company, put through the deal? Don't you know that the Golden Gate Land Company is controlled by yourself and Raymond Thomas--ain't you and Thomas the whole works o' that--" Thomas was on his feet with an objection, but the judge had no opportunity to overrule it, for Bill had something to say and he was going to say it. He lifted his voice above that of Thomas, calling out and waving his arms violently in an excitement he had never known before. "And all your stocks in the name of rummies?" His eyes twinkled as Marvin came up to him and whispered. Again waving his arms, Bill shouted: "Dummies, I mean--dummies!" Thomas had been tried to the point of despair. There was a lump in his throat as he beseeched the judge: "I protest against this!" The judge interrupted him. "I am beginning to believe in this plot story." "Then let him go on," was Bill's agreeable reply. Hammond jumped up out of his chair and descended from the witness-stand. "Your Honor," he said, in an angry tone, "I absolutely refuse to submit to this any longer--to stand here and be made to look like a criminal!" Bill could not withstand the chance for another quip and he smiled at his antagonist. "Well, you look natural," he remarked. "Do you expect me to stand for this?" Hammond stormed. "Sit down, if you want to," said Bill, restored to his old nonchalance. "I'm through with you," and he turned his back on Hammond and went over to Marvin. Thomas, keyed to a high pitch, knew that something must be done at once, for he saw that not only the Jones case was crumbling, but he sensed trouble ahead in his afternoon's venture, so he resorted to Everett Hammond's tactics of placing the matter in an absurd light. "All this ridiculous testimony," he argued, "has no possible connection with the case in point, but I propose to prove that all the accusations against the witness and myself are not only groundless but absolutely malicious, and I shall do this at the first opportunity." Unable to stand the situation any longer, he went back and took his seat. Marvin had sat quiet all through this controversy. Now he forgot the judge's admonition as to his place in the case. He got up, stating to the judge: