Then Captain Gardiner, the chief of the police, took the stand. From the outset it was evident to all that he, for some reason, held firmly to the belief that Ray was guilty, and that he was determined to convict him if that were possible. It may be that the severe reprimand he had received on Monday afternoon from the town board for his discourtesy to Mr. Carleton and General Squire the day before had created this feeling; or, possibly, he may have felt that his reputation as a skillful and successful officer would be damaged if the boy were not convicted. At any rate, with bitter invective against Ray and his earlier life, he went on to show that it was his own keenness that had discovered the piece of cloth on the partition, the tracks at the rear of the store, and the coat and tools under the lumber. It was, moreover, his own alertness, that had detected Ray on Saturday morning with another coat on, and prying around that very heap of lumber on the docks. He, too, it was, that had noticed that Ray, as soon as he beheld the piece of cloth that had been found, had abruptly left the store and hurried off down the bay. The finding of the coat, to his mind, was the last link necessary to prove that the boy must at least have been in league with the other culprits. The idea that the boy could have been there at the wharf all night without knowing that the burglary was going on was to him simply absurd. In his eagerness to convict the lad he even advanced theories respecting the robbery and the disposal of the stolen goods which had no foundation in fact, and which Mr. Eaton had the right to object to; but for reasons best known to himself he allowed the captain to go on until his story was finished. Then by a few well-directed words in the cross-examination, Mr. Eaton so disconcerted the self-important official, that he became confused and contradictory in his testimony, and finally retired from the stand completely discomfited. Several witnesses were now introduced to show that Ray had been in the village the night of the burglary; that he wore the coat which had been found under the lumber on the wharf, and that he was seen early the next morning wearing another coat. Then Mr. George Woodhull was called to the stand. He seemed somewhat surprised that the prosecution had called him as a witness, but having been put under oath, he readily admitted that Ray had not arrived at Long Point Farm on the previous Saturday morning until nearly eight o'clock; that he came without the coat he had worn away the evening before; and that he seemed in an unusual thoughtful mood all the rest of the day, as though troubled about something. But the first decided sensation of the trial came when the coat which had been found was placed before him, and he was asked if that, in his judgment, was Ray's coat. "No, sir!" he promptly answered, "I do not think it is." "Why not?" asked the little attorney, sharply.