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Speaker 1: Evidence by Murray Leinster. It was hot. My pony jogged

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listlessly along, without interest or animation, while I was only

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concerned with the problem of getting to shade and water,

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but especially shade. The sun was hot enough to fry

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any one's brains in his skull, and my saddle burned

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my hand if I touched it. Where the sun struck it,

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there was a trickling stream of perspiration down either cheek,

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and a third stream down my nose. From time to

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time I smudged the dust across my face in an

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attempt to stop the streams, but the action merely interrupted

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their course. It was in this peculiarly Texan atmosphere that

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I came upon Jimmy Calton. He was standing by the

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open hood of one of those mechanical miracles known as

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a Tin Lizzie, holding a sooded spark plug and a

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cloth in one hand and attempting to clean it with

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the other. He was swearing the while dispassionately in a

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curious mingling of good Anglo Saxon and Doby Spanish. Hello, Jimmy,

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I said listlessly. He looked up and nodded, say you

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look hot, he observed, Come on and ride aways with me. Lizzie. Here,

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I'll be running in a minute, and you can tie

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your pony on behind. Going anywhere in particular, I asked

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over to see the coroner. He's told me old Abe

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Martin got shot the other day, and folks are saying

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Harry Temple done it. They got him locked up. Anyways,

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I dismounted stiffly and tied my pony to the rear

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of the machine, allowing him plenty of lead rope. Jimmy

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finished wiping the last of the spark plugs, apostrophizing the car.

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In the meantime, you creakin growlin' spark plug fowlin blasted

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hunk a tin. He finished lyrically and put down the hood.

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He went to the crank and turned it half a

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dozen times. The engine caught sputtered and began to run

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with a pretentious roar. Jimmy hastily reached for the wheel

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and adjusted the spark and throttled and climbed in leisurely

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with a grinding and a lurch. We started off, my

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pony following docilely behind. Yees ten tin tin, said Jimmy

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doing mysterious things with his feet. I have scorned you,

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and I've flayed you. But by the guy who made you,

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you are better than a big car lunk a tin.

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We slipped into the car's second and highest speed and

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began to run more smoothly. Jimmy looked behind to see

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that my pony was all right, and began to roll

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a cigarette with his left hand while expertly guiding the

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car around the numerous ruts and rocks in the roadway.

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I watched the process of cigarette rolling without interest. I

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can't seem to get the neck of that, I remarked,

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when he had finished and was licking the edge of

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the paper to hold it in place, imitating, said Jimmy casually.

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There ain't any way that everybody can do. Nobody else

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I know rolls them like this. It's just easiest for me.

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You'll have to mess around till you find a way

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that fits your fingers. I'll smoke tailor made, I said,

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rather than bothered with learning, just like the new generation,

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said Jimmy severely. Jimmy, it may be said, is thirty,

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but affects the authority of a man of eighty, wanting

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everything done by somebody else, else by machinery. They even

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want the thinking done, fam, it's too hot to think

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down here. I took off my hat and wiped the

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moisture off the sweatband. Jedgin by the little bit of

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it people do, Jimmy remarked acridly. Most people agree with you.

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Most people look at thinking something they was taught to

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do in schools, and as such, something to forget as

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soon as possible from the folks that don't think about

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the spiggetty revoltosos just across the border, and are feigned

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and surprised when the spiggottyes run off with some of

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the cattle. Down to the folks that had rather buy

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cigarettes than bother thinking up a way to roll them

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one handed for themselves. Everybody's just the same. Why it

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wouldn't surprise me none at all if most folks told

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the truth, just cause it's too much trouble to think

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up a lie. I accepted his rebuke in the matter

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of cigarettes meekly and said, nothing. It's a fact, said Jimmy,

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with an air of mournful pity for a race fallen

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so low. I saw in a book the other day

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that the best lion is the lie that's near the truth.

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Ain't that ridiculous. That's just justifying laziness. If folks got

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the goods on you, you can't get away from the truth,

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then it's all right to dilute the truth until it's harmless.

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But otherwise a good lie beats the almost truth nine

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ways from Sunday Only. It's a lot of trouble thinking

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up a good lie and fortifying it with accumulative evidence.

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Jimmy rolled those two words off his tongue with some satisfaction.

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A cumulative evidence like a good lie ought to have.

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He fell silent for a while, doing marvels of steering

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in the avoidance of obstacles and depressions in the really

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horrible road, and thinking, he said, suddenly, presently, folks don't

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like thinking. Anybody with any sense of no, Harry Temple

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wouldn't a shot old Abe Martin. Harry Temple has got

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a bank account in the Farmer's and Ranches Bank, and

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it ain't in reason that he'd go and shoot anybody

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to steal their role. Old Abe sold off six hundred

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steers and got the money. He was old fashioned and

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didn't believe in banks, so he took the money home

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with him, and somebody went and shot him and took

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the roll. But Harry Temple with a bank account at

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the Farmers and Ranches Bank. It ain't reasonable that he'd

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go and shoot anybody for to steal the money. If

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he's any like I am, he's too busy wondering if

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somebody is going to steal his money to go stealing

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somebody else's. Jimmy said this last, with an air of

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virtue that made me smile. Jimmy's much too good a

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poker player to be worried about his money. I know

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he owns one small ranch he never goes near, bought

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out of the proceeds of a colossal gain still remembered

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along the border. But they think he did it, I asked,

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show they do, Jimmy said, scornfully. They's going around saying

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they know he did. That's toro. Of course, one of

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jimmy individualities as his habit of translating American slang into

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Adobe Spanish and using it in his conversation. What are

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you going to see the coroner for? They's holding an inquest,

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said Jimmy. I'm sort of goin to hornyin a little

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I reckon. These folks are too lazy to do any

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thinkin' if I see a chance, I'm going to do

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some head work for them. They is a Martin's place

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right ahead. We turned in the gate and swung up

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to the house. Half a dozen cars, most of em

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say make as Jimmy's, clustered about the front, and there

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were a dozen or more ponies tethered close by the

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porch and dozing in the baking heat. It was quite

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a pretentious place, built in the old fashioned style of

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the days when a rancher was almost a barren in

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his own right. Two big barns and a huge stable

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behind the house almost dwarfed the dwelling proper and quite

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hid it from the rear. Jimmy eased his car in

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among the others, snapped the switch and alighted. Three or

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four of the men about the door nodded to him

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and told him the inquest had not started, but that

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it would begin shortly once he found that out. Jimmy

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plunged into an intricate and technical discussion of patented attachments

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for his machine, and I drifted off into the house.

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It was a very old house, and built with old

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fashioned disregard for space. I gathered, however, that the house

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keeping done in It was but sketchy. Half a dozen

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of his riders made at their headquarters with old Abe Martin.

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They bunked there, and a cook prepared the meals for

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all of them. There was a long table with a

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checked red tablecloth on it. The room was empty now

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except for buzz and flies where they had their meals.

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On the day of the shooting, I learned the men

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had all been gone away on their duties, and the

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cook had gone into town for supplies, so Abe Martin

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had been alone presently. I went out to look at

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the stables. They were huge, but not much used. Three

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or four ponies were in their stalls, and several more

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stalls seemed to be used from time to time, but

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most of them were without signs of recent use. There

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had been a time when the place was the headquarters

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of a busy ranch, but since the time of fences,

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the activity had lessened, until only Abe Martin, his half

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dozen riders, and the cook lived there. It was curious

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to see the dwelling place, large in itself, dwarfed by

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its outbuildings. A stir in the house called me inside.

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The inquest was evidently to be more or less of

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an informal affair, but there was none the less a

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determined than business like air behind it. All those men

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meant to get at the bottom of the matter. The

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coroner seemed to be a conscientious individual who took the

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evidence of the first witness with great exactitude, though he

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knew perfectly well beforehand just what the testimony would be.

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The whole inquiry, as a matter of fact, promised to

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be cut and dried, in spite of Jimmy's announced intention

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of horning in the first witness was the cook who

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had discovered the body. He had come back from town,

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entered the house and discovered his employer dead on the

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floor of the hall. He had been shot through the heart.

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A rider whom the cook had hastily summoned, corroborated his

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testimony and added that the body was cold when he

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was called, proving that death had occurred some time before.

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The evidence shows, said the coroner casually, that Abe was

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shot when there wasn't nobody else in the house but

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him and the murderer. The cashier, the farmer's in rancher's

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bank ain't here, But he has give me the information

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that Abe had over four thousand dollars on him when

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he was killed. That's gone. Evidently he was shot for

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his money. It's part of the duties of a coroner's

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jury to uncover any evidence that will help in solving

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the problem of who the murderer might be. Mister Joe

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Harkness will take the stand. There was a movement of

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interest in the small crowd packed into the one room

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I had managed to get beside Jimmy Calton, and his

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face became extraordinarily mild and gentle. It hinted at some

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expectation of excitement if I knew Jimmy. Everyone had heard

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Harkness's story before, so it was simply a recapitulation. I

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ain't got a thing to say, announced Harkness bluntly, except

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that I seen when Harry Temple come out of this

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here house about three o'clock, just after Aide Martin was shot.

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I was having trouble with my spark plugs down the

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road of ways when I seen Harry. He come out

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of the kitchen door, looked all round as if he

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was looking to see if anybody seeing, and then he

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went down toward the stables. He went inside there. Then

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he come out of that and went over to the

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quarters and got a drink at the pump by the door.

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I was wondering what he was doing, but it looks

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to me like he was making sure there wasn't nobody

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around that could have told that he'd been around. And

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there's one mole thing when he come out of the house.

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He come out of the kitchen doll. He was putting

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something in his breast pocket. I glanced at Jimmy Calton.

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He was looking at Harkness with a gentle, placid smile.

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His face did not change when Harry Temple stood up,

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pale beneath his tand everything Harkness says, his soul said

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Harry Temple determinedly, every single word. Only I didn't shoot

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old Abe. I come out here to see him about

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selling him some yearlings. He wasn't here, so I went

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in the kitchen to see if I couldn't leave wood

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with a cook. The cook was missing, too, but I

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thought I heard somebody moving around somewhere, and I went

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just where Harkness said, and just in the order he said.

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He must have seen me first. When I come out

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of the kitchen. When I couldn't find nobody, I cranked

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up and laughed. Harkness stood up. I hate to contradict Harry,

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he said sharply, but he's made a mistake. He didn't

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crank up and leave. He was driving somebody else's car,

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and it had a self starter on it. Every Temple

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flushed slightly. That's a fact, he acknowledged. I'd forgotten that

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I was driving a car they lent me at the garage.

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I'd left my own there to have some repairs made,

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of course, said Harkness sarcastically. Nobody suspects that you was

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driving a strange car with strange tires, so they couldn't

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prove nothing on you by the tracks. Jimmy put a

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question in a gentle voice. There's another question, he said, softly.

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What was Harry putting in his pocket when Harkness saw

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him coming out of the house. I don't remember putting

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anything in my pocket, said Temple, beginning to be worried.

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It was probably my handkerchief. There was a moment's silence.

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One or two of the men in the room stirred uneasily.

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Jimmy called and smiled sweetly to himself. Mister corner, he said, slowly,

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May I make an observation or two, it looks like

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somebody ought to point out two or three facts. Go ahead,

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Jimmy said. The coroner seemed to be bothering him that

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so much seemed to point to the guilt of Harry Temple.

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Temple did seem to be quite a decent sort, and

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the coroner evidently hated to bring out so much to

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his discredit without anything to counteract the impression thus made.

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Knowing Jimmy, he knew Jimmy would not interfere unless he

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thought things were going the wrong way, and that meant

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in this case that he had something to say in

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Temple's favor. Mister Cohner and gentlemen, said Jimmy formally, it

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don't seem hardly fit to bring out all this he

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evidence against a man without any evidence the other way.

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I want to point out two things about this here case.

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The first is that Harry Temple has got money in

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the bank, and the second is that he never disputed

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a single thing Hackness said about out him. You know,

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and I know that a man with money in the

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bank ain't goin around doin highway robbery and murder. He

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can't afford to. You Just think about that a while

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and here's something else to think about. Did you notice

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that Harry Temple said right off that he'd done just

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what Harkness said. Now, if he'd shot old Abe Martin,

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you know, he'd have tried to make some of that

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stuff sound just a little less incriminatin'. He'd a said

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he didn't go in the house, just to the door knocked,

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and he'd ha tried to weaken everything. Harkness said just

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that way. But he didn't. He's telling the truth so

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hard he can't seem to see. It's putting a rope

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around his neck in spite of his beIN just as

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innocent as he says. As for his putting something in

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his breast pocket, nobody puts money there, and especially stolen money.

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But most everybody puts the handkerchief there. But that ain't evidence,

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said the coroner, disappointedly. I've thought you had some facts

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to give us. I'll give you one fact, Jimmy offered.

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Harry Temple didn't shoot Abe Martin. Looky here, Harkness himself.

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Don't believe he did, do you, he demanded, turning to

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that person. Harkness sat stolidly in his chair. You heard

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what I said, he grunted. You heard what I seen

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him do? Saw I do, Jimmy admitted readily. But you

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know he didn't shoot Abe. Jimmy seemed to be making

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a fool of himself. I tugged at his sleeve for

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him to sit down, but he paid no attention. What

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do you mean, demanded Harkness suspiciously. Nothin whatever, said Jimmy,

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with a gentleness I suddenly recognized as dangerous. Nothing whatever

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except what I said. You know Harry Temple didn't shoot Abe.

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You mean to tell me I'm lyin, snapped Harkness angrily. No,

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said Jimmy in a cooing drawl. Nothin so harmless. I'm

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accusing you of someth my, damn sight more dangerous than lying.

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I'm accusing you of tellin the truth, the exact truth.

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There's a puzzled pause. I noticed, however, that Harkness was

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watching Jimmy with a curious alertness. It's always more dangerous

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to tell the truth in a case like this, Harkness,

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said Jimmy, still in that gentle drawl. You told the

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absolute truth about what you saw Harry do. And that's

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the most dangerous thing you could have told, cause there

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ain't but one man could have told that, mister Corner.

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If you look out of the window, you'll see just

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where Harry Temple walked down the kitchen steps, just where

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he went back to the stables, just where he went

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into the Big Bond, and just where he got a drink.

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And then if you look, you'll see where he stopped

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his car so Harkness could see that it had a

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self start on it instead of a crank. I saw

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a light break on the coroner's face as he looked

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from place to place in the yard behind the house.

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He faced about just as Jimmy deliberately pulled a revolver

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out of his pocket. Harkness told the truth, said Jimmy, softly.

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He told the absolute truth. But there ain't but one

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place you can see all them things from, with all

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them bonds outside, there ain't but one place you can

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see the door of the stables, and the big Bond,

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and the pump by the quarters and the kitchen door

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all at once. And there wasn't but one man in

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the world who could have seen Harry Temple do all

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of them things, Because there wasn't but one man in

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that place. The only place you can see all them

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places from is this here room? And the only man

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in the house when Harry Temple did them things was

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the man who'd shot a Martin and hadn't had time

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to get away. When Harriet Temple come driving in Harkness,

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Jimmy's voice was suddenly like steal. If you pull that

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gun on me, I'll blow a hole right through the

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place your brains ought to be. End of evidence.