Dave told the story, with a little prompting in the way of questions from the lawyer, substantially as he had told it at the coroner's inquest. He related his parting from Lockwood, Tom's appearance on the scene, Tom's threatening speech, Lockwood's entreaty that Tom would not shoot him, and then Tom's shooting. In making these statements Dave looked at the stairway in the corner of the court-room with an air of entire indifference, and he even made one or two efforts to yawn, as though the case was a rather dull affair to him. "How far away from Mason and Lockwood were you when the shooting took place?" asked the prosecutor. "Twenty foot or more." "What did Tom shoot with?" "A pistol." "What kind of a pistol?" "One of the ole-fashion' sort--flint-lock, weth a ruther long barrel." The prosecuting lawyer now beckoned to the sheriff, who handed down to him, from off his high desk, Tom's pistol. "Tell the jury whether this looks like the pistol." "'T was just such a one as that. I can't say it was that, but it was hung to the stock like that, an' about as long in the barrel." "What did Grayson do when he had shot George, and what did you do?" "Tom run off as fast as his feet could carry him, an' I went up to_wards_ George, who'd fell over. He was dead ag'inst I could get there. Then purty soon the crowd come a-runnin' up to see what the fracas was." After bringing out some further details Allen turned to his opponent with an air of confidence and said: "You can have the witness, Mr. Lincoln." There was a brief pause, during which the jurymen changed their positions on the hard seats, making a little rustle as they took their right legs from off their left and hung their left legs over their right knees, or vice versa. In making these changes they looked inquiringly at one another, and it was clear that their minds were so well made up that even a judge's charge in favor of the prisoner, if such a thing had been conceivable, would have gone for nothing. Lincoln at length rose slowly from his chair, and stood awhile in silence, regarding Sovine, who seemed excited and nervous, and who visibly paled a little as his eyes sought to escape from the lawyer's gaze. "You said you were with Lockwood just before the shooting?" the counsel asked. "Yes." Dave was all alert and answered promptly. "Were you not pretty close to him when he was shot?" "No, I wasn't," said Dave, his suspicions excited by this mode of attack. It appeared that the lawyer, for some reason, wanted to make him confess to having been nearer to the scene and perhaps implicated, and he therefore resolved to fight off. "Are you sure you were as much as ten feet away?" "I was more than twenty," said Dave, huskily. "What had you and George Lockwood been doing together?" "We'd been--talking." Manifestly Dave took fresh alarm at this line of questioning. "Oh, you had?" "Yes." "In a friendly way?" "Yes, tubby shore; we never had any fuss."