The Eagles Heart | Page 9

he said: "That is Clinton's side of the case. My son must have
been provoked beyond his control. Wait till we hear his story."
But the shadow of the prison was on Harold's face, and he sullenly
refused to make any statement, even to his sister, who had more
influence over him than Mrs. Excell.
A singular and sinister change came over him as the days passed. He
became silent and secretive and suspicious, and the sheriff spoke to Mr.
Excell about it. "I don't understand that boy of yours. He seems to be in
training for a contest of some kind. He's quiet enough in daytime, or
when I'm around, but when he thinks he's alone, he races up and down
like a lynx, and jumps and turns handsprings, and all sorts of things.
The only person he asks to see is young Burns. I can't fathom him."
The father lowered his eyes. He knew well that Harry did not ask for
him.
"If it wasn't for these suspicious actions, doctor, I'd let him have the full
run of the jail yard, but I dassent let him have any liberties. Why, he
can go up the side of the cells like a squirrel! He'd go over our wall like
a cat--no doubt of it."
The minister spoke with some effort. "I think you misread my son. He
is not one to flee from punishment. He has some other idea in his
mind."
To Jack Burns alone, plain, plodding, and slow, Harold showed a
smiling face. He met him with a boyish word--"Hello, Jack! how goes
it?"--and was eager to talk. He reached out and touched him with his

hands wistfully. "I'm glad you've come. You're the only friend I've got
now, Jack." This was one of the morbid fancies jail life had developed;
he thought everybody had turned against him. "Now, I want to tell you
something--we're chums, and you mustn't give me away. These fools
think I'm going to try to escape, but I ain't. You see, they can't hang me
for stabbing that coward, but they'll shut me up for a year or two, and
I've got to keep healthy, don't you see? When I get out o' this I strike
for the West, don't you see? And I've got to be able to do a day's work.
Look at this arm." He stripped his strong white arm for inspection.
In the midst of the excitement attending Harold's arrest, Dot's
elopement was temporarily diminished in value, but some shrewd
gossip connected the two events and said: "I believe Clint gibed Harry
Excell about Dot--I just believe that's what the fight was about."
This being repeated, not as an opinion but as the inside facts in the case,
sentiment turned swiftly in Harold's favor. Clinton was shrewd enough
to say very little about the quarrel. "I was just givin' him a little guff,
and he up and lit into me with a big claspknife." Such was his story
constantly repeated.
Fortunately for Harold, the case came to trial early in the autumn
session. It was the most dramatic event of the year, and it was seriously
suggested that it would be a good thing to hold the trial in the opera
house in order that all the townspeople should be able to enjoy it. A
cynical young editor made a counter suggestion: "I move we charge
one dollar per ticket and apply the funds to buying a fire engine."
Naturally, the judge of the district went the calm way of the law,
regardless of the town's ferment of interest in the case.
The county attorney appeared for the prosecution, and old Judge Brown
and young Bradley Talcott defended Harold.
Bradley knew Harold very well and the boy had a high regard for him.
Lawyer Brown believed the boy to be a restless and dangerous spirit,
but he said to Bradley:
"I've no doubt the boy was provoked by Clint, who is a worthless bully,

but we must face the fact that young Excell bears a bad name. He has
been in trouble a great many times, and the prosecution will make
much of that. Our business is to show the extent of the provocation, and
secondly, to disprove, so far as we can, the popular conception of the
youth. I can get nothing out of him which will aid in his defense. He
refuses to talk. Unless we can wring the truth out of Slocum on the
stand it will go hard with the boy. I wish you'd see what you can do."
Bradley went down to see Harold, and the two spent a couple of hours
together. Bradley talked to him in plain and simple words, without any
assumption. His voice was kind and sincere, and Harold nearly wept