The Daltons Volume II Part 72

"What was that for? You had no reason to fear them."

"Ayeh!--who knows?--the polis is terrible!"

"Well, after that?"

"Well, when I heard them pa.s.s, I opened the door, and then I saw enough.

They were standing at Sam's house; one of them talking to Sam, and the other two rummaging about, sticking poles into the thatch, and tumbling oyer the turf in the stack.

"'Isn't this a pretty business?' says Sam, calling out to me. 'The polis is come to take me off to prison because some one murdered the master.'

'Well, his soul's in glory, anyhow,' says I, and I shut the doore."

"And saw nothing more?"

"Only the polis lading Sam down the boreen betune them."

"He made no resistance, then?"

"Not a bit; he went as quiet as a child. When he was going by the doore, I remember he said to one of the polis, 'Would it be plazing to ye to help me wid my coat; for I cut my finger yesterday?'"

"Did n't I say it was with a reaping-hook?" cried Meekins, who, in all the earnestness of anxiety, followed every word that fell from the witness.

His counsel sprang to his feet, and pulled him back by the arm; but not before the unguarded syllables had been heard by every one around. Such was the sensation now produced, that for several minutes the proceedings were interrupted, while the counsel conferred in low whispers together, and all seemed thunderstruck and amazed. Twice Meekins stood forward to address the court, but on each occasion he was restrained by the counsel beside him; and it was only by the use of menaces that Wallace succeeded in enforcing silence on him. "When the moment of cross-examination arrives," said he to the jury, "I hope to explain every portion of this seeming difficulty. Have you any further questions to ask the witness?"

"A great many more," said Hipsley. "Now, Morris, attend to me. Sam asked the police to a.s.sist him, as he had cut his hand with a reaping-hook?"

"He did, indeed, sir," said the witness; "and a dreadful cut it was. It was hard for him to get his hand into the sleeve of the jacket."

"I perceive; he had difficulty in putting on the jacket, but the policemen helped him?"

"They did, sir; and one of them was hurting him, and Sam called out, 'Take care, take care. It's better to cut the ould sleeve; it's not worth much, now.'"

"And did they cut it?"

"They did, sir; they ripped it up all the way to the elbow."

"That was a pity, was n't it, to rip up a fine frieze coat like that?"

"Oh, it was n't his coat at all, sir. It was only a flannel jacket he had for working in."

"So, then, he did not wear the blue-gray frieze like your son's when he went to jail?"

"No, sir. He wore a jacket."

"Now, why was that?"

"Sorry one o' me knows; but I remember he didn't wear it."

"Did n't I say that I left my coat at the bog, and that I was ashamed to go in the ould jacket?" screamed out Meekins, whose earnestness was above all control.

"If this go on, it is impossible that I can continue to conduct this case, my Lord," said Wallace. "While no attempt has been made to refute one t.i.ttle of the great facts I have mentioned, a system of trick has been resorted to, by which my client's credit is sought to be impugned.

What care I if he was known by a hundred nicknames? He has told the court already that he has lived a life of reckless adventure; that he has sailed under every flag and in every kind of enterprise. Mayhap, amid his varied characters, he has played that of a land bailiff; nor is it very strange that he should not wish to parade before the world the fact of his being arrested, even under a false accusation; for he was discharged, as he has just told you, two days after."

A large bundle, carefully sealed, was now carried into the court, and deposited before Mr. Hipsley, who, after a few seconds' consultation with Grounsell, rose, and addressed the court,----

"My learned friend complains of being surprised; he will, perhaps, have a better right to be so in a few moments hence. I now demand that this man be consigned to the dock. These affidavits are all regular, my Lord, and the evidence I purpose to lay before you will very soon confirm them."

The judge briefly scanned the papers before him; and, by a gesture, the command was issued, and Meekins, who never uttered a word, was conducted within the dock.

"I will merely ask the witness two or three questions more," added Hipsley, turning towards the jailer, who alone, of all the a.s.sembly, looked on without any wonderment.

"Now, witness, when did you see the prisoner wear the blue-gray coat?

After the death of Mr. G.o.dfrey, I mean."

"I never seen him wear it again," was the answer.

"How could ye?" cried Meekins, in a hoa.r.s.e voice. "How could ye? I sailed for America the day after I was set at liberty."

"Be silent, sir," said the prisoner's counsel, who, suffering greatly from the injury of these interruptions, now a.s.sumed a look of angry impatience; while, with the craft of his calling, he began already to suspect that a mine was about to be sprung beneath him.

"You have told us," said Hipsley,--and, as he spoke, his words came with an impressive slowness that made them fall deep into every heart around,--"You have told us that the coat worn habitually by the prisoner, up to the day of Mr. G.o.dfrey's murder, you never saw on him after that day. Is that true?"

"It is, sir."

"You have also said that this coat----part of a piece from which your son had a coat----was of a peculiar color?"

"It was, sir; and more than that, they had both the same cut, only Sam's had horn b.u.t.tons, and my son's was metal."

"Do you think, then, from the circ.u.mstances you have just mentioned, that you could know that coat if you were to see it again?"

A pause followed, and the witness, instead of answering, sat with his eyes fixed upon the dock, where the prisoner, with both hands grasping the iron spikes, stood, his glaring eyeb.a.l.l.s riveted upon the old man's face, with an expression of earnestness and terror actually horrible to witness.

"Look at me, Morris," said Hipsley, "and answer my question. Would you know this coat again?"

"That is, would you swear to it?" interposed the opposite counsel.

"I believe I would, sir," was the answer.

"You must be sure, my good man. Belief is too vague for us here," said the prisoner's lawyer.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 498]

"Is this it?" said the solicitor, as, breaking the seals of the parcel before him, he held up a coat, which, ragged and eaten by worms, seemed of a far darker color than that described by witness.

The old man took it in his hands and examined it over carefully, inspecting with all the minute curiosity of age every portion of the garment The suspense at this moment was terrible; not a syllable was spoken; not a breath stirred; nothing but the long-drawn respirations of the prisoner, who, still leaning on the iron railing of the dock, watched the old man's motions with the most harrowing intensity.

"Let me see it on him," said the witness, at last

"Prisoner, put on that coat," said the judge.