"Yes, sir. I will be the next witness. I will tell how the laborer took me to the spot where the fire had been, and how I searched it. Several weeks had passed, and the rains had leached out the ashes, but the place had not been disturbed by a rake or cultivator." "How do you know?" "In the center where the heat had been greatest there was nothing but washed out ashes, but all around the edge were the unconsumed ends of twigs and branches looking as if they had been arranged in an exact circle with all the charred ends pointing to the center. I searched every square inch of the spot while the laborer watched me." "Where was the master of the place?" "Oh, I took care to inform myself beforehand that he was not going to be there at that time." "And you found...?" "Some little burned lumps of bone, but it was impossible to say of what. A little lump of gold that might have been a finger ring--Talley wore such a ring, but it had melted into a shapeless lump. A piece of scorched fabric barely recognizable as part of the brim of a man's silk hat. Finally, in a slight depression where water had gathered, part of a jawbone in which six teeth were still fairly intact." The Judge shook his head frowning. "Scarcely conclusive! Scarcely conclusive!" "There is one more witness, sir," said Pen. "Considerable dental work had been done on the teeth, and the fillings were still intact. One of the teeth it appeared was false, and it had been fastened to its fellows on either side in an ingenious fashion." "Ha!" "Talley it appeared was vain of his personal appearance, and employed a first-class dentist. The dentist is prepared to go on the stand and swear from the work on the teeth that this is a part of Talley's jaw." "From memory?" "No, sir. He is a modern dentist. He will offer his record in evidence, which includes diagrams of the man's mouth, showing the work he did on it from time to time." Judge Talley forgetting judicial calm jumped up. "Ha! then you _have_ a case!" he cried. "Eh, Mr. Hackett?" "If it can be proved to the satisfaction of a jury," said the Assistant-District-Attorney sourly. Judge Stockman paced slowly up and down. "This is extraordinary .... extraordinary!" he murmured. He came to a stand in front of Pen. "Miss Broome, has this man been in court?" "No, sir. But his representatives are always there. I don't doubt but he receives hourly reports of the proceedings." "I think you had better tell me the name of the man you accuse. Not with any idea of injecting it into this case, but simply that precautions may be taken against his escape. The police should be notified." Pen looked at Corveth, who nodded. "It is Ernest Riever," she said. The effect on the two men was electrical. Hackett jumped to his feet, and supported himself with a hand on the back of his chair. "Impossible!" he cried.