And thus the battle progressed, the old man storming, the frowning, sullen captive in the chair replying in monosyllables, or refusing to answer at all. An hour passed, while Tabernacle crowded the little lobby and overflowed to the street. One by one Ba'tiste brought forth the trinkets and laid them before the thin-faced man. He forced them into his hands. He demanded that he explain why he had said nothing of their presence in the lonely cabin, when he had known them, every one, from having seen them time after time in the home of Renaud. The afternoon grew old. The sheriff arrived,--and still the contest went on. Then, with a sudden shifting of the head, a sudden break of reserve, Thayer leaned forward and rubbed his gnarled hands, one against the other. "All right!" he snapped. "Have it your way. No use in trying to lay it on the woman--you could prove an alibi for her. You're right. I killed them both." "Both?" They stared at him. Thayer nodded, still looking at the floor, his tongue licking suddenly dry lips. "Yeh, both of 'em. One brought on the other. Mrs. Renaud and John Corbin--they called him Tom Langdon back East." CHAPTER XXV It was staggering in its unexpectedness. A gasp came from the lips of Barry Houston. He felt himself reeling,--only to suddenly straighten, as though a crushing weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He whirled excitedly and grasped the nearest onlooker. "Go get Medaine Robinette. Hurry! Tell her that it is of the utmost importance--that I have found the proof. She'll understand." Then, struggling to reassure himself, he turned again to the prisoner. Two hours later, in the last glint of day, the door opened, and a woman came to his side, where he was finishing the last of many closely written sheets of paper. He looked up at her, boyishly, happily. Without waiting for her permission, he grasped her hand, and then, as though eager for her to hear, he turned to the worn-faced man, now slumped dejectedly in his chair. "You understand, Thayer, that this is your written confession?" The man nodded. "Given in the presence of the sheriff, of Ba'tiste Renaud, of myself, and the various citizens of Tabernacle that you see here?" "Yes." "Of your own free will, without threats or violence?" "I guess so." "And you are willing to sign it?" The man hesitated. Then: "I'd want to know what I was signing." "Certainly. I intend to read it to you--so that all witnesses may hear it. It is then to be filed with the district attorney. You can signify its correctness or incorrectness after every paragraph. Is that agreeable?" "I guess so." A pause. At last: "'My name is Fred Thayer. I am forty-four years of age. Prior to about a year ago, I was employed by the Empire Lake Mill and Lumber Company as superintendent. I had occupied this position for some fifteen or twenty years, beginning with it when it was first started by Mr. Houston of Boston.' Is that right?"