'You can heat the kettle, boys; Mulock can't run,' cried Joe, from the platform. 'But you must give him a fair trial. 'We'll do thet, never ye fear!' echoed a dozen voices. 'I nominate his friend, Mr. Gaston, for judge,' said Joe. 'Gaston it is!' Gaston it is!' 'Mount the bench, Mr. Gaston!' shouted a hundred 'natives.' Gaston got upon the auction stand, and said: 'I'll serve, gentlemen; but, before we select jurors, the sale must go on. Miss Preston is not sold yet.' 'All right! all right! Hurry up, Mr. Hammerman!' shouted the crowd. The auctioneer took his place: 'A thousand dollars is bid for this young lady. Going--gone--_gone_, to Mr. Joseph Preston.' Selma put her arms about Joe's neck, and, in broken tones, said: 'My brother! my dear brother!' Then she laid her head on his shoulder, and wept--wept unrestrainedly. Who can fathom the untold misery she had endured within those two hours? CHAPTER XXVI. The impromptu judge took his seat on the bench, and the excited multitude once more subsided into quiet. In about fifteen minutes a tumult arose in a remote quarter of the ground, and Mulock and his pursuers appeared in sight, shouting, screaming, and swearing in a decidedly boisterous manner. The most of the profanity--to the credit of the self-appointed _posse comitatus_ be it said--was indulged in by the ex-overseer, who, with his clothes torn in shreds, and his face covered with blood, looked like the battered relic of a forty years' war. A red bandanna pinioned his arms to his sides, and a strong man at each elbow spurred his flagging footsteps by an occasional poke with a pine branch. Ally followed at a few paces, looking about as dilapidated as the culprit himself. To him evidently belonged the glory of the capture. As they approached the stand. Gaston rose, and called out: 'Do not insult justice, by bringing the prisoner into court in this condition. Let his face be washed, his garments changed, and his wounds bound up, before he appears for trial. Dr. Rawson, I commission you special officer for the duty.' 'I'm at your service, Major Gaston,' said the doctor, stepping out from the crowd into the open semicircle in front of the bench. 'Will some one procure the loan of a coat, hat, and trousers at the mansion?' Ally started for the needed clothing, and the physician led the way to the small lake. In about twenty minutes the volunteer officials returned with the criminal, clothed in a more respectable manner, and Gaston said to him. 'Prisoner, take your place.' Resistance was useless, and Mulock, with a slow step, and a sullen, dogged air, ascended the platform, and seated himself in the chair provided for him at its further extremity. Gaston sat at the other end, facing him; and four brawny 'natives,' with revolvers in their hands, took positions by his side. 'Silence in the court!' cried Gaston.