Following a path that led him quickly to a hill above the town not far from the prison walls, he threw himself at full length beside a bowlder, and gazed upon the familiar outlook. Across the broad, shining river lay the dreamy blue hills he had so often watched while working at his brushes. Here and there a small boat skimmed down the stream before the same fresh breeze that sent the red and brown leaves fluttering along the grass. The sunlight touched everything with enchantment, the cool autumn air was an intoxicant--it was the Golden Age again. No, not the Golden Age! Just below, two hundred yards away, he noticed for the first time a group of men in stripes breaking stones. Some were kneeling, some crouching upon their haunches. They worked in silence, cracking one stone after another and making little piles of the fragments. At the distance of only a few feet two guards leaned upon their loaded rifles. Jim shut his eyes. III The day of sentence came. Once more Jim found himself in the stifling court. He saw Monohan brought to the bar, and watched as he waited listlessly for those few terrible words. The Court listened with grim patience to the lawyer's perfunctory appeal for mercy, and then, as the latter concluded, addressed the prisoner with asperity. "Richard Monohan, you have been justly convicted by a jury of your peers of robbery in the first degree. The circumstances are such as to entitle you to no sympathy from the Court. The evidence is so clear and positive, and the complainant's identification of you so perfect, that it would have been impossible for a jury to reach any other verdict. Under the law you might be punished by a term of twenty years, but I shall be merciful to you. The sentence of the Court is--" here the Judge adjusted his spectacles, and scribbled something in a book--"that you be confined in State Prison for a period of _not less than ten nor more than fifteen years_." Monohan staggered and turned white. The whole crowded court-room gasped aloud. "Come on there!" growled the attendant to his prisoner. But suddenly there was a quick movement in the centre of the room, and a man sprang to his feet. "Stop!" he shouted. "Stop! There's been a mistake! You've convicted the wrong man! _I_ stole that ring!" "Keep your seats! Keep your seats!" bellowed the court officers as the spectators rose impulsively to their feet. Those who had been present at the trial two days before were all positive _now_ that they had never taken any stock in the old gentleman's identification. "Silence! Silence in the court!" shouted the Captain pounding vigorously with a paper-weight. "What's all this?" sternly demanded the Judge. "Do you claim that _you_ robbed the complainant in this case? Impossible!"