OLD BILL SMITH, THE SILENT HUNTER. 219 
of the case as nearly as he could without detailing his own 
share in the plot,—which was entirely unnecessary, as his ob- 
ject had been to further the cause of justice and humanity 
by punishing this monster morally, if it could not be done 
legally,—and then exhibiting the boy to the jury, declared the 
bond of indenture to be forfeited, and that Saunders should 
be found in costs of suit, and compelled to give security for 
the support and education of the boy until he was eighteen. 
Such was the eventful opening of the public career of 
“Billy,” as poor Mattie called him. When we next hear of 
him he was a gay, voluble, dashing young lawyer, successful 
in his first case, and indeed in almost every other to which 
he put his hand. The old Judge, his adopted father, had 
retired from the bench upon a handsome competency, and 
though now very decrepid, could not resist the gratification 
of listening to the forensic triumphs of his “pet nursling of 
the cow-troughs,” as he used to term William, humorously. 
Whenever William had an interesting case on hand, the old 
man’s carriage was invariably seen to roll up to the court 
house door, and he to hobble in on crutches, when the duti- 
ful young man was instantly at his side to assist him up the 
accustomed steps to the old accustomed chair, which still held 
its place for his occasional accommodation. After seeing him 
comfortably seated,.and his gouty feet adjusted with scrupulous 
care, would return with redoubled energy to his case. 
It was always noticed that when the venerable ex-judge 
was present, the face of the young lawyer flushed with anxious 
excitement, and then he made his very happiest efforts, and 
carrying everything before him by the impetuous vehemence 
of his oratory, never lost a case ; and the father and patron, 
in one, would sit with half closed eyes, in a sort of rapt 
ecstacy of enjoyment, while his lips occasionally moved in 
unconscious approval as the young man let off his happier 
its. Smith soon became exceedingly popular, and his clients 
learned to avail their causes of this noble trait of Smith, in 
