Read "Cloud, the Smiter" by Arthur Gask online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
THE trial of Joseph Arthur Cloud for the murder at Glenelg was one of the very briefest on the capital charge ever recorded in the State of South Australia. The prisoner made no attempt at any defence, and listened with cynical indifference to the marshalling of all the evidence against him. Merciless himself he had been always in his dealings with the community, and now he, in his turn, expected no mercy from them. He sat in the dock between two warders, a cold and dominating personality, with his face the perfect study of untroubled repose. And his composure was in no way assumed either, but seemed rather the natural expression of a calm and even disposition.
Only once did he appear to evince any interest at all in the proceedings, and that was when Inspector Romilly went into the witness-box. His eyes gleamed then with anger, when the story was unfolded of the long and patient vigil over the garage of Clyde House.