They all knew his
terrible fits of anger; they all knew that his temper was proverbial in
the community; that it had prevented him having friends and had made
him many enemies. Was it not very probable, therefore, that the masked
men were two such enemies? As to what particular motive actuated these
two men, she could not say; but it rested with them, the judges, to
know whether in all Alaska there were or were not two men whom John
Borg could have given cause sufficient for them to take his life.
Witness had testified that no traces had been found of these two men;
but the witness had not testified that no traces had been found of St.
Vincent, Pierre La Flitche, or John the Swede. And there was no need
for them so to testify. Everybody knew that no foot-marks were left
when St. Vincent ran up the trail, and when he came back with La
Flitche and the other man. Everybody knew the condition of the trail,
that it was a hard-packed groove in the ground, on which a soft
moccasin could leave no impression; and that had the ice not gone down
the river, no traces would have been left by the murderers in passing
from and to the mainland.
At this juncture La Flitche nodded his head in approbation, and she
went on.
Capital had been made out of the blood on St. Vincent's hands. If they
chose to examine the moccasins at that moment on the feet of Mr.
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