"Done just right," was the verdict of Public Opinion,
and the self-constituted judges manifested their further approval
by slapping Good Indian upon the back when they had a chance, or
by solemnly shaking hands with him, or by facetiously assuring
him that they would be good. All of which Grant interpreted
correctly as sympathy and a desire to show him that they did not
look upon him as a murderer, but as a man who had the courage to
defend himself and those dear to him from a great danger.
With everything so agreeably disposed of according to the
crude--though none the less true, perhaps--ethics of the time and
the locality, it was tacitly understood that the coroner and the
inquest he held in the grove beside the house were a mere
concession to red tape. Nevertheless a general tension
manifested itself when the jury, after solemnly listening, in
their official capacity, to the evidence they had heard and
discussed freely hours before, bent heads and whispered briefly
together.
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