The Bondboy Part 47

The court-room received this with a laugh, for there were scores of cornfield lawyers present. The judge smiled, balancing a pen between finger and thumb.

"The objection is overruled," said he.

"When you lit that lamp, what did you want to see?" the prosecutor asked again.

"I wanted to see my way upstairs," Joe answered.

The prosecutor threw off his friendly manner like a rustic flinging his coat for a fight. He stepped to the foot of the dais on which the witness chair stood, and aimed his finger at Joe's face.

"What were you carrying in your hand?" he demanded, advancing his finger a little with every word, as if it held the key to the mystery, and it was about to be inserted in the lock.

"Nothing, sir."

"What had you hidden in that room that you wanted a light to find?"

Ha, he's coming down to it now! whispered the people, turning wise looks from man to man. Uncle Posen Spratt set his horn trumpet to his ear, gave it a twist and settled the socket of it so firmly that not a word could leak out on the way.

"I hadn't hidden anything, sir," said Joe.

"Where did Isom Chase keep his money?"

"I don't know."

"Had you ever seen him putting any of it away around the barn, or in the haystack, maybe?"

"No, I never did, sir," Joe answered, respectfully.

The prosecutor took up the now historic bag of gold-pieces and held it up before the witness.

"When did you first see this bag of money?" he asked, solemn and severe of voice and bearing.

"When Isom was lying on the floor, after he was shot."

"You didn't see it when he was trying to get the gun, and when you say you were struggling with him, doing the best you could to hold him back?"

Joe turned to the judge when he answered.

"It might have been that Isom had it in his arm, sir, when he made for the place where the gun was hanging. I don't know. But he tried to keep me off, and he hugged one arm to his side like he was trying to hide something he didn't want me to see."

"You never saw that bag of money until the moment that Isom Chase fell, you say," said the prosecutor, "but you have testified that the first words of Isom Chase when he stepped into the kitchen and saw you, were 'I'll kill you!' Why did he make that threat?"

"Well, Isom was a man of unreasonable temper," said Joe.

"Isn't it a fact that Isom Chase saw you with that bag of money in your hand when he came in, and sprang for the gun to protect his property?"

Joe turned to the judge again, with an air of respectful patience.

"I never saw that little pouch of money, Judge Maxwell, sir, until Isom fell, and lay stretched out there on the floor. I never saw that much money before in my life, and I expect that I thought more about it for a minute than I did about Isom. It all happened so quick, you know, sir."

Joe spoke the last words with a covert appeal in them, as if placing the matter before the judge alone, in the confidence of his superior understanding, and the belief that he would feel their truth.

The judge seemed to understand. He nodded encouragingly and smiled.

"Do you recall the morning after your arrival at the home of Isom Chase to begin your service there, when you threatened to kill him?" asked the prosecutor.

"I do recall that morning," admitted Joe; "but I don't feel that it's fair to hold me to account for words spoken in sudden anger and under trying circ.u.mstances. A young person, you know, sir"--addressing the judge--"oftentimes says things he don't mean, and is sorry for the next minute. You know how hot the blood of youth is, sir, and how it drives a person to say more than he means sometimes."

"Now, your honor, this defendant has counsel to plead for him at the proper time," complained the prosecutor, "and I demand that he confine himself to answering my questions without comment."

"Let the witness explain in his own way," said the judge, who probably felt that this concession, at least, was due a man on trial for his life. There was a finality in his words which did not admit of dispute, and the prosecuting attorney was wise enough not to attempt it.

"You threatened to kill Isom Chase that morning when he laid hands on you and pulled you out of bed. Your words were, as you have heard Mrs.

Chase testify under oath in that very chair where you now sit, 'If you hit me, I'll kill you in your tracks!' Those were your words, were they not?"

"I expect I said something like that--I don't just remember the exact words now--but that was what I wanted him to understand. I don't think I'd have hurt him very much, though, and I couldn't have killed him, because I wasn't armed. It was a hot-blooded threat, that's all it was."

"You didn't ordinarily pack a gun around with you, then?"

"No, sir, I never did pack a gun."

"But you said you'd kill old Isom up there in the loft that morning, and you said it in a way that made him think you meant it. That's what you wanted him to understand, wasn't it?"

"I talked rough, but I didn't mean it--not as bad as that anyhow."

"No, that was just a little neighborly joke, I suppose," said the prosecutor sneeringly. He was playing for a laugh and he got it.

Captain Taylor almost skinned his knuckles rapping them down that time, although the mirth was neither general nor boisterous. Joe did not add to Lucas's comment, and he went on:

"Well, what were you doing when Isom Chase opened the door and came into the kitchen that night when he came home from serving on the jury?"

"I was standing by the table," said Joe.

"With your hat in your hand, or on your head, or where?"

"My hat was on the table. I usually left it there at night, so it would be handy when I came down in the morning. I threw it there when I went in, before I lit the lamp."

"And you say that Isom opened the door, came in and said, 'I'll kill you!' Now, what did he say before that?"

"Not a word, sir," insisted Joe.

"Who else was in that room?"

"n.o.body, sir."

The prosecutor leaned forward, his face as red as if he struggled to lift a heavy weight.

"Do you mean to sit there and tell this jury that Isom Chase stepped right into that room and threatened to kill you without any reason, without any previous quarrel, without seeing you doing something that gave him ground for his threat?"