"Is it possible you haven't heard? Since yesterday noon, two more
murders have been added to the holocaust. You represent the courts of
law. I represent the military arm of the State. Are we going to stand
by and see this go on?"

The Judge shook his head, and his visage was sternly thoughtful and
hypocritical. He did not mention that he had just come from conference
with the Hollman leaders. He did not explain that the venire he had
drawn from the jury drum had borne a singularly solid Hollman compaction.

"Until the Grand Jury acts, I don't see that we can take any steps."

"And," stormed Captain Callomb, "the Grand Jury will, like former
Grand Juries, lie down in terror and inactivity. Either there are no
courageous men in your county, or these panels are selected to avoid
including them."

Judge Smithers' face darkened. If he was a moral coward, he was at
least a coward crouching behind a seeming of fearlessness.

"Captain," he said, coolly, but with a dangerous hint of warning, "I
don't see that your duties include contempt of court."

"No!" Callomb was now thoroughly angered, and his voice rose. "I am
sent down here subject to your orders, and it seems you are also
subject to orders. Here are two murders in a day, capping a climax of
twenty years of bloodshed. You have information as to the arrival of a
man known as a desperado with a grudge against the two dead men, yet
you know of no steps to take. Give me the word, and I'll go out and
bring that man, and any others you name, to your bar of justice--if it
is a bar of justice! For God's sake, give me something else to do than
to bring in prisoners to be shot down in cold blood."