Pagina 189 de 416

"Steady on, now!" counseled Pete, looking with pity at the young

skipper he worshiped. "He's done fer you true this time, but the

end of things is a tarnal long ways off yet, an' don't you go

losin' yer spunk!"

"But what have I ever done to him that he should start this

against me?" cried Schofield.

Pete could not answer.

"What do they do when a man is accused of murder?" asked Code.

"Why, arrest him, I guess."

Pete scratched his chin reminiscently. "There was that Bulwer

case." He recounted it in detail. "Yes," he went on, "they can't

do nothin' until the man accused is arrested.

"After that he gets a preliminary hearin', and, if things seem

plain enough, then the grand jury indicts him. After that he's

tried by a reg'lar jury. So the fust thing they've got to do is

arrest you."

"Darn it, they sha'n't--I'll sail to Africa first!" snarled Code,

his eyes blazing. He strode up and down the deck.

"You say the word, skipper," rumbled Pete loyally, "an' we crack

on every stitch fer the north pole!"