"Well, while I was waiting, about ten minutes maybe, I heard some one coming from the back of the house. It was a woman." "What did she do?" "She came up by the porch, knelt down kind of and ran back to the rear of the house." "What did you do then?" "I waited a few minutes then I got down out of the tree and went over to the porch and picked up what the woman had left there." "What was it?" "A pistol." "Have you got the pistol?" "Yes, sir." "Will you hand it to me?" "Yes, sir." Mitch took a pistol out of his pocket and handed it to my pa. Then Mrs. Rainey, who was still sittin' in the court room, fainted dead away. And some women and a doctor came up and carried her out. Temple Scott was white as death, and was leanin' his head on his hand and lookin' down. And then my pa went on. "Where has this pistol been since that night?" "Buried." "Where?" "In Montgomery's woods." "How?" "In a cigar box." "Why did you bury it?" "So it wouldn't rust--so as to hide it." "Do you know who the woman was who put the pistol there?" "Yes, sir." "Who?" "Mrs. Rainey." "Then what did you do?" "I still stayed in the tree." "Did anything else happen?" "Yes, sir." "What?" "In just a few minutes after Mrs. Rainey came out and left the pistol, some men came out, one of 'em was Harold Carman, and they started to look right by the edge of the porch. And one man says, 'Where is it?' and another says, 'I don't see it,' and another says, 'Is this the place?' And so they looked all around and then went back into the house." "Then what did you do?" "I waited until everything was all right, then I climbed down out of the tree, and got the pistol, and ran. And so I kept the pistol for a few days; but I got worried havin' it around, so I put it in a cigar box and went out to Montgomery's woods and buried it." "And is this pistol you produced here, the same pistol you picked up, and buried?" "Yes." "That's all," said my pa. Then the judge said, "We'll suspend here for a little while." Mitch started to leave the witness chair, but the judge said, "No, you must stay where you are. You stand by him, Mr. Sheriff." Then there was a kind of noise of the people in the room changin' their seats and talkin'. And the word went around that Mrs. Rainey had died. CHAPTER XXIII That's what had happened. She had died. Her heart went back on her. But my pa said they kept it away from the jury. And Mitch kept sittin' there lookin' pretty tired. The jury wasn't allowed to leave; but just sat there. And they passed 'em water. And the judge had gone out, probably to see Mrs. Rainey. My pa went too, and Major Abbott. Then they all came back together, and the judge got on the bench, and said to go on. Major Abbott stood up and took off his nose glasses and began to kind of shake 'em with his hand, and he looked at Mitch, and Mitch looked at him, kind of scared, I thought. And then Major Abbott began.