“That won’t matter to James. He threw down his gage this morning. The jury will have to sit tight and hold on to the handle going round the curves, or he’ll have them in a hat before he’s done with them. And I’ve seen Bow-wow crumple up before now.” “So have we all.” “Like all notorious barkers his voice is the best part about him.” “For my part, I think you are going too fast. The lad is not so wonderful as all this. He has done nothing out of the common as far as I can see.” “No, dear boy,” said Jumbo, “because you can never see anything. But a young sportsman who can cross-examine in that manner in his first murder case is made of the right stuff.” “But the witness was as easy as pie. She didn’t know where she was or what she was saying.” “And he took an amazing advantage of her.” “So would any one else.” “They would, but in a very different way.” “His cross-examination will amount to nothing, in spite of the time it wasted.” “Will it not, though? That is all you know of a sentimental jury of your countrymen.” “His attack on the police was monstrous, and he had no right to put questions in the form he did.” “So thought Weekes, so thought Bow-wow, but he put them all the same. And what is more, the foreman of the jury, a highly respectable greengrocer, took cognizance.” “Well, where does his amazingness come in? She only answered ‘yes’ to everything.” “Had he wanted her to answer ‘no’ to everything she would have done so.” “Of course she would. Everybody could see that.” “Yes, dear boy, and what does he do? Our young friend takes the liberty of inventing every one of his facts as he goes along. All that about her dealings with the police and the murdered man coming from her native village was so much fiction. It was a marvellous piece of improvisation.” “We shall none of us believe that.” “Of course you won’t, dear boys; you are not expected to. But as soon as he realized his opportunity he took an amazing advantage of it. It was daring, I grant you, an unparalleled piece of effrontery. I don’t know another man at the bar who, had he been capable of a _coup_ of that kind, would have ventured to play it. The whole thing was the most audacious piece of work ever seen.” “But, my dear Jum, he had no right to do a thing of that kind.” “Of course not, dear boy, but he did it.” “But why didn’t Weekes stop him?” “Because Weekes did not know any more than you. He would be the last man in the world to see a thing of that kind.” “Then why didn’t Topott call his attention to it?” “Topott also was completely taken in.” “Then by your own showing, Jum, you were the cleverest man in court this morning?” “The cleverest but one, dear old boy. My young friend Jem Smith was the cleverest by very long chalks, but my perspicacity is deserving of honorable mention.” “It is not the first time,” said the table, roaring with laughter, “that this fatal drink habit has caused you to see things.” XXVI THE PLEA