"
"Do you remember pointing out the man who assailed you?"
"Yes; it was that villain Garcia."
"The man whom you denounced was not Garcia."
"Was it not Garcia whom they brought before me."
"No."
"Who was it?"
"A stranger."
"I made a mistake!"
"Yes; you made a mistake. Will you not look again at the
man?"
"Certainly I will."
"Will you rise up in bed?"
"Yes."
Renie assisted the old man to rise, and beckoned the men to
lead the detective forward.
"Now, father," she said, "look upon this man."
The old smuggler looked the detective all over, and a change
came over his face as he said:
"Is that the man I denounced?"
"Yes."
"My friends, that is not the man who assailed me!"
The gang of lynchers stood gazing in amazement, and there was
a suspicious look upon the faces of many of them as their
leader remarked:
"The girl has cajoled him."
The men suspected that the girl had induced her Father to
recall his words.
"Would you know the man who assailed you, Tom?"
"Yes."
"Then why did you accuse this man?"
"I had not fully recovered my senses when I denounced him."
"Do you know the right man?"
"Yes," came the answer.
"Are you sure you have your senses now?"
"Yes."
"This man is really innocent?"
"He is."
"That settles it, stranger. We owe you an apology; but you
had a narrow 'squeak' of it, and but for the gal, you'd have
been dangling now from yonder spar."
Turning to the wounded man, the fellow continued:
"Tom, who was the man who assailed you?"
"I know him.
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