"Let him go, Steve," he said. "Send him back to the mountains."

"But he tried to kill a man, Judge."

"I know, but extraordinary times demand extraordinary methods. A great
and troubled period has come into all our lives. Maybe we're about to
face some terrible crisis. Isn't that so?"

"Yes," replied the crowd.

"Then we must not hurry it or make it worse by sudden action. If Skelly
is punished, the mountaineers will say it is political. I appeal to you,
Dr. Russell, to sustain me."

The white head of the principal showed above the crowd.

"Judge Kendrick is right," he said. "Skelly must be permitted to go.
His action, in fact, was due to the strained conditions that have long
prevailed among us, and was precipitated by the alarming message that
has come today. For the sake of peace, we must let him go."

"All right, then," said Allison, "but he goes without his pistol."

Skelly was put upon his mountain pony, and he rode willingly away amid
the snow and the coming dusk, carrying, despite his release, a bitter
heart into the mountains, and a tale that would inflame the jealousy
with which upland regarded lowland.

The crowd dispersed. Gardner returned to his office, and Harry went