The sinister fear with which the negro peered about the courtroom, the affected nonchalance and thinly veiled defiance of his mumbled answers told damningly against him. The passions of raging fear and terror had driven from his low-browed face every trace of intellectuality or culture, leaving only the cunning cruelty and ferocity of the animal. His cross-examination left him without a vestige of self control, and before it had well finished, in a violent passion he poured forth a volley of oaths, his huge frame quivering as he burst into a raving, shrieking arraignment of the white man, in which he had to be almost throttled into silence by the deputies. When the prosecuting attorney arose to review the case, there hung over the courtroom the ominous hush that is significant of but one thing. After a brief recital of the details of the evidence, the counsel appealed to the jury to do its sworn duty. The judge’s charge was a cool, impartial exposition of the law as it applied to the case. When finished, the jury arose amid a general movement of relief upon the part of the audience and as the twelve men filed out, there was considerable excited conversation, mingled with whispered speculations as to how long they would be out. Within the courtroom proper, as soon as the jury had retired, the Court instructed the sheriff to announce a recess. A half hour passed and there was a commotion in the outer hall. The sheriff wore an agitated air. Presently, one by one, a half-dozen men walked inside the railing and dropped carelessly into chairs. The prisoner looked at his new companions and evidently read aright their mission. They were deputy sheriffs. Four of them sat in chairs ranged behind the prisoner and one sat at either side of him. Directly across the aisle sat Elliott Harding, apparently cool and patient. Very soon it became generally known that a verdict had been reached. During the next five minutes, the rooms filled rapidly. The sheriff rapped for order and shouted: “Let everyone within the courtroom sit down.” From that moment the stillness of death prevailed. Every eye was turned toward the prisoner. His fingers worked convulsively and his whole body trembled. But few seconds elapsed before the twelve men slowly and gravely filed into their places. “Have you reached a verdict, gentlemen?” asked the Court, as they lined up. “We have, Your Honor,” answered the foreman. The Court then announced: “I want everyone to understand that the least attempt at an expression of approval or disapproval of this verdict, as it is read, will be punished by a fine for contempt. Mr. Clerk, read the verdict.” The clerk obeyed. His voice was clear and everyone heard: “We, the jury, agree and find the defendant, Ephriam Cooley, guilty of the murder of Dorothy Carr, and fix his punishment at death.” Elliott Harding quietly left the scene, feeling already a lightening of the intolerable load which had so long weighed upon him. CHAPTER XXII.