“Yes, sir,” he reiterated. “’Twar tur’ble hard on Moses. I jes’ know how he felt. Thar ain’t nuthin’ in this worl’ so tormentin’ ter the sperit ez ter be in a place ye _de_spise, an’ hanker an’ hone ter git ter another. Whenst I war a witness in the court yander at Glaston agin Jake Baintree ez killed Sam’l Keale, I fairly pined so fur the mountings my chist felt tight, like I couldn’t breathe, an’ my eyeballs plumb started out’n my head. An’ when they ’lowed thar’d hev ter be a new trial, an’ I’d hev ter kem back las’ March agin, I war so outdone an’ aggervated by the foolin’ ’round o’ them lawyers, ez tuk an’ sp’iled the case they hed been at sech trouble ter fix _jes’ so_, that I jes’ up-ed an’ ’lowed afore the jedge ez I hoped I’d be dead afore that time.” “The folks laffed at ye, too,” said the constable. “Let ’em laff,—laffin’ ’s cheap,” retorted Jepson. He was one of those happily constituted mortals who respect their own mental attitude far more than its effect on others. “Waal, they ’low ez Baintree air a-layin’ fur ye ’bout’n that thar testimony ye gin agin him,” observed Strobe. Jepson received this suggestion in the silence of contempt. “I never looked ter see Baintree let off from that court,” said Bowles. “Yes,” assented Jepson cheerfully. “The law ’peared ter hev a weak streak in it somehows, an’ the lawyers said they couldn’t prove it on him. An’ I ’lowed ter the State’s lawyer ez they hed better prove it then with a sentence from Jedge Lynch.” The constable, mindful of his position as an officer of the law, cast a sudden glance upon him of threatening surprise. “What did the ’torney gineral say ter that?” he demanded pertinently. “He say ef he hed sech a tongue ez mine he’d tie it ter his palate, ter keep it still,” responded Jepson easily. “But I told him thar warn’t no danger, fur ef ennybody fell out with the sayin’s o’ my tongue, the doin’s o’ my fist war mighty apt ter make ’em fall in agin. Yes, sir,” he proceeded after a pause, “I appealed ter Jedge Lynch.” His form of expression was reminiscent of his recent experiences in the courts. “I never got nothin’ by it, though. Folks is gittin’ so white-livered they be afeard o’ thar shadders.” “Waal, now,” spoke up the constable, moving back a pace, and feeling at a disadvantage in being constrained to look upward at the horseman, “when the courts hev let a man go, an’ can’t prove nuthin’ on him, I say ’twon’t do fur folks ter set out an’ mebbe hang a man by mistake.”