"Umph!" grunted the stranger. He was an immense man with a heavy jet-black beard and hair in thick curls all over his head. A broad-brimmed sombrero cast a deep shadow over his features, heightening their natural unpleasantness. Two of the others now jumped upon the platform and entered the car, and Dockbridge saw that they wore some kind of uniform and that the lining of their overcoats was red. Peggy cowered to one side as the three strangers forced their way by her and paused at the door of the compartment. "Is Mr. Andrews here?" inquired the one whom the others addressed as Judge. "I am Mr. Andrews. This is the officer who holds me in custody." The Judge turned to one of his followers. "Serve him!" he growled. The one addressed took from beneath his coat a bundle of papers, and selecting one, handed it to McGinnis, who let it fall to the floor without a word. "Put up that pistol!" continued the Judge. At this moment Dockbridge, who had listened as if dazed to the colloquy, now mastered sufficient courage to assert himself. "Here! what's all this?" he exclaimed in as determined a manner as he could manage to assume. "What are you doing in my compartment with your wet feet? Who the devil are you, anyway?" He squeezed by his huge antagonist and took his stand by McGinnis. The conductor and the majority of the train hands had crowded into the passageway and filled the door with their dripping and astonished faces. The officer handed another paper to Dockbridge. "This is Judge Peters, sir; and this paper is a writ of _habeas corpus_ returnable forthwith, sir," said the man. Dockbridge glanced at the paper and saw that the officer's statement was correct. The paper was a writ ordering him to produce the body of Samuel Andrews before the Honorable Elijah Peters, Judge of the Supreme Court of Alberta, _forthwith_, and show cause why said Andrews should not be set at liberty. He was trapped. It could not be denied. "Is this Judge Peters?" he inquired politely of the man with the black beard, who had taken off his hat and seated himself upon the sofa. "I am," returned the other curtly. "And I now pronounce this car a court, and direct you to release your prisoner as detained by you without lawful authority." He leaned forward and shook his finger threateningly at McGinnis. "Put up that pistol!" McGinnis looked at Dockbridge. "Put it up, Pat," directed the latter. "There's no occasion for pistols." He winked at Peggy. "Pardon my lack of courtesy in addressing you, Judge Peters, when you first entered. I was unaware, of course, to whom it was that I spoke." The Judge shrugged his shoulders deprecatingly.