"Yes, he was!" Hammond reiterated, quickly. "And you tried to induce him to sign such an important document as that when he was drunk?" Marvin asked the question in a slow, concise tone and looked up at the judge to gather the impression made by Hammond's evident duplicity. The deep water into which Hammond had walked was making itself felt and he tried to wade toward shore. "I never tried to get him to sign! He didn't sign it!" he snapped. "No, he wasn't drunk enough for that! He wasn't drunk at all. He was as sober as he is at this moment!" "You mean to call me a liar?" Hammond, his red neck swelling over the top of his collar, and his small, close-together black eyes flashing angrily, got up and made a threatening move toward his questioner. Marvin, although much smaller, did not flinch. "No, I mean to _prove_ it," he answered. Judge Townsend made a quieting gesture to Hammond, who sat down in the witness-chair again as Marvin went on with his rapid-fire. "Now you called Mr. Jones a liar, didn't you?" "Yes," was Hammond's gruff reply. "And everybody who knows him says the same thing!" "Oh," said Marvin, with a shake of his head. "So you testified that he was a liar because you heard others say so?" "No," jerked Hammond, "he lied to me." "What did he tell you that was untrue?" "Everything," said Hammond. "Can you repeat one lie that Mr. Jones told you?" "Oh, he told me so many," was the impatient reply, "I can't recall them. Oh yes," after a pause, "he said he drove a swarm of bees across the plains in the dead of winter." Bill, who was facing him, and who had not taken his eyes from him, burst into a loud laugh, the whole court-room, even to the judge, following suit, while Marvin raised his voice above the uproar to ask, "Now, how do you know that is a lie?" "Why, I know the thing is impossible!" Hammond said, contemptuously. "Why?" "It's all nonsense," sneered Hammond, with an angry gesture. "That is precisely what it is, Mr. Hammond, and that is just what Mr. Jones meant it to be! What else did he say?" "What's the difference?" asked Hammond. "You admit it's all nonsense." "Not all, Mr. Hammond." Marvin raised his voice and he looked searchingly at the judge. "He said at least one thing that was not nonsense. He said to his wife, 'Mother, these two men are trying to rob you.' Do you remember that, Mr. Hammond? You were all there. Do you remember that he said you and Mr. Thomas were trying to rob Mrs. Jones?" In order to make his question more impressive, Marvin nodded at Hammond and pointed to Mr. Thomas, and then directed a glance toward Mrs. Jones. Her hands were still folded in her lap and her head bent toward them. Everett Hammond, his face purple with rage, shouted at Marvin, "I don't propose to sit here and be insulted by a criminal like you!"