"What--Dick!"

"Yes--yes. There were newspapers, too, which gave an account of the
trial--the first he'd heard of it--he was away in the Everglades. He
started instantly, and came on here when he had read the papers, and
realized the bearing his letter would have on the trial. He has
travelled day and night. He hoped to get here in time. Jack and Ben
thought he was in New York. They wrote to ask him to go
duck-shooting--with them. And, father--here's the most startling point
of it all." As the man waited, watching his son's face, he groaned
suddenly and made a gesture of despair.

"Don't, father--don't take it that way. It's good--it's glorious--it
clears Jack. My uncle will be almost happy. But I wouldn't tell him at
once--I'd be careful," he warned the other.

"What was it--the startling point you spoke of?"

"Oh--surely--this. The letter to Charley Owen spoke of Jack's new
pistol--that pistol. Jack said they would have target-shooting with it
in camp. They were all crack shots, you know. He said he had bought it
that evening, and that Ben thought well of it. Ben signed the letter
after Jack, and then added a postscript. It clears Jack--it clears him.
Doesn't it, father? But I wouldn't tell my uncle just yet. He's not fit
to take it in for a few hours--don't you think so?"

"No, I won't tell him--just yet."

The young man's wide glance concentrated with a flash on his father's
face. "What is it? You speak queerly. You've just come from there.