to the police station and locked us up--me, Chambardeau, and Mimi. We had chucked our knives away, or else we should have had another round. 'It's a pity,' says Chambardeau, 'that the police came and spoiled the fun!' 'You bet, old chap,' I says. But then Mimi--she ought not to have been with us, but the cells for the women was full--she had been crying, and, as I was saying, she takes Chambardeau's hand. 'It was real good of you,' she says to him, 'not to have split on Titi.' 'I split on a pal!' he exclaims. _Mimi, j'en ai soupé d'toi._[24] 'Ah,' he goes on, excited, 'I thought I'd make you love me; but it's no use, you must think me d---- low to imagine that I could split on a pal! Shake hands, Titi,' he then says, 'and keep her.' Just then his wound begins to hurt him. It was nothing--I'd only stuck him through the arm--but he was bleeding a lot, only he would not call out for a doctor for fear it might tell against me. So Mimi tears her apron and makes a bandage of it. The next morning we were all brought before the Commissary of Police; and although Chambardeau swore that it was all lies about our having been fighting, and my having stabbed him, they sent us both to the _Dépôt_[25] in the _Panier à salade_[26] (Black Maria). Two days later the _Juge d'instruction_[27] examined me. He knew me, that man; I had been twice before him already. "'So here you are again, Martin!' he says. "'Yes, sir,' I answers. "'Attempted murder this time,' he goes on, reading a long report. "'_Ah la bonne blague! C'est tout des menteries d'la police._' (Well, that's a good one! All lies from the police.) "'But,' he answers, 'you were caught in the act of stabbing the man Chambardeau.' "'Now, _Monsieur le Juge_,' I said, 'ask Chambardeau himself, ask Mimi Robinson, the grocer's daughter: they'll both tell you if I am not speaking God's own truth.' "'I have seen them both,' said the judge, 'and they both accuse you.'" "Now you see, _mon vieux_," went on Titi, waxing excited, and shaking me by the blouse, "you see I'd been there before, and I knew that the judge was telling a lie as big as himself. I had seen Chambardeau in the passage at the _Dépôt_, and he had winked at me and telegraphed--you know we had both been in quod before and had learned there how to telegraph with our hands--so he telegraphed: 'I have not been examined yet, and I'll swear we were playing, and I hurt myself; I won't split.' What's more, I had caught sight of Mimi in the witness room, and she would not have been left there if she had already been examined, so I knew it was all lies that the judge was telling just to make me confess. I didn't lose my head, but quite polite I replied: "'I'm as innocent as an unborn baby, sir, and I only ask you to confront[28] me with Chambardeau and Mimi.' "'That will come in due time,' said the judge; 'you are not going to teach me how to conduct my examination, are you?'