"Rubbish!" grunted Titus. "You talk like a fool! The sheeps' throats is torn. Schwartz seen your cur tear 'em. That's all there is to it. Whether he tore 'em straight or whether he tore 'em crooked don't count in Law. He _tore_ 'em. An' I got a reli'ble witness to prove it." "Your Honor," said the Master, suddenly. "May I interrogate the witness?" Maclay nodded. The Master turned to Schwartz, who faced him in stolid composure. "Schwartz," began the Master, "you say it was light enough for you to recognize the sheep-killing dog both mornings in Romaine's barnyard. How near to him did you get?" Schwartz pondered for a second, then made careful answer: "First time, I ran into the barnyard from the house side and your dog cut and run out of it from the far side when he saw me making for him. That time, I don't think I got within thirty feet of him. But I was near enough to see him plain, and I'd seen him often enough before on the road or in your car; so I knew him all right. The next time--this morning, Judge--I was within five feet of him, or even nearer. For I was near enough to hit him with the stick I'd just picked up and to land a kick on his ribs as he started away. I saw him then as plain as I see you. And nearer than I am to you. And the light was 'most good enough to read by, too." "Yes?" queried the Master. "If I remember rightly you told Judge Maclay that you were on watch last night in the cowshed, just alongside the barnyard where the sheep were; and you fell asleep; and woke just in time to see a dog----" "To see your dog----" corrected Schwartz. "To see a dog growling over a squirming and bleating sheep he had pulled down. How far away from you was he when you awoke?" "Just outside the cowshed door. Not six feet from me. I ups with the stick I had with me and ran out at him and----" "Were he and the sheep making much noise?" "Between 'em they was making enough racket to wake a dead man," replied Schwartz. "What with your dog's snarling and growling, and the poor sheep's bl'ats. And all the other sheep----" "Yet, you say he had killed three sheep while you slept there--had killed them and carried or dragged their bodies away and come back again; and, presumably started a noisy panic in the flock every time. And none of that racket waked you until the fourth sheep was killed?" "I was dog-tired," declared Schwartz. "I'd been at work in our south-mowing for ten hours the day before, and up since five. Mr. Romaine can tell you I'm a hard man to wake at best. I sleep like the dead." "That's right!" assented Titus. "Time an' again, I have to bang at his door an' holler myself hoarse, before I can get him to open his eyes. My wife says he's the sleepin'est sleeper----" "You ran out of the shed with your stick," resumed the Master, "and struck the dog before he could get away? And as he turned to run you kicked him?" "Yes, sir. That's what I did." "How hard did you hit him?"