To The West Part 8

"Oh, what a whopper!" cried Esau, excitedly. "Will you be silent, sir?"

cried the old gentleman, tapping the desk in front of him with his knuckles.

"Here is the hat, Sir Thomas," said Mr Dempster, and stooping down he held up his crushed and beaten head-covering in corroboration of his words, when a perfect roar of laughter ran round the court, and I saw the old gentleman lift his gla.s.ses and smile.

"Well, Mr Dempster, well?" he said.

"Then, Sir Thomas, then, to my utter astonishment, evidently by collusion, Gordon seized my Malacca cane, and the boy Dean shouted to him to come on now, and they made a combined attack upon me, breaking off the handle of my cane, inflicting the injuries you see, and but for my energetic defence I believe they would have robbed me and gone off.

Fortunately I was able to call for the police, and give them into custody."

"Well, of all--" began Esau; but the old alderman turned upon him sharply.

"I shall commit you, sir, for contempt of court," he cried.

"But he is telling such--"

"Silence, sir!"

"Quiet, you young donkey," whispered the policeman. "Hsh!"

"Hm! Mr Dempster, Mr Dempster," said the old gentleman, "this is a police court, not an auctioneer's rostrum."

"I beg your pardon, Sir Thomas," said Mr Dempster, with dignity.

"You are sworn, sir, and I wished to remind you that this is not a rostrum. You auctioneers are licenced gentlemen, and you do exaggerate a little sometimes. Are you not doing so now?"

"Look at my face, Sir Thomas. My arm is terribly strained."

"Um--yes, but it does not sound reasonable to me, as an old man of the world who has had much to do with boys."

"I have stated my case, Sir Thomas," said Mr Dempster in an ill-used tone.

"Are you sure that you did not use the cane first yourself?"

"I--I will not swear I did not, Sir Thomas. I was very angry."

"Hah! yes," said the old gentleman, nodding his head. "Now, boy, speak the truth. This is a very serious business; what have you to say?"

"Got hold of me, sir, and was going to hit me, and we wrestled, and the hat was knocked over, and the stick, and he trod on his 'at, sir, and I sings out to Mayne Gordon--this is him, sir--to take the stick away, but he got it, sir, and I calls out to Gordon not to let him thrash me."

"Gently, gently," cried the old gentleman, holding up his hands, for Esau's words came pouring out in a breathless way, and every one was laughing.

"No, sir, not a bit gently; 'ard, sir, awful! and I can show the marks, and Gordon--that's him, sir--says he'd no business to 'it his mate, and he 'it him, and then Gordon got hold of the cane and held on, and Mr Dempster, he got it away again, and cut him across the ear, sir, and it bled pints, and 'it him again, and then I went at him and held him, and Gordon got the cane away and 'it 'im, sir, and then we ran away, and the police took us and locked us up, and that's all."

"And enough too," said Sir Thomas good-humouredly. "There, hold your tongue.--Now, you, sir, what have you to say?--the same as your companion?"

"I'm very sorry, sir," I said huskily; and then a feeling of indignation seemed to give me strength, and I continued, "What Esau Dean says is all true. Mr Dempster has behaved cruelly to us, and I could not stand still and see him beat Esau. I only tried to hold the stick so that he should not strike him, and then he hit me here, and here, and then I think I got hold of it, and--I don't remember any more, sir. I'm very sorry now."

"I ain't," said Esau defiantly.

"Do you want me to send you to prison, sir?" cried the old gentleman.

"No, sir."

"Then hold your tongue. Any witnesses, constable?"

"No, Sir Thomas."

"Humph! Well, really, Mr Dempster, from what I know of human nature, it seems to me that these lads have both spoken the truth."

"Incorrigible young scoundrels, Sir Thomas."

"No, no, no! Excuse me, I think not. A boy is only a very young man, and there is a great responsibility in properly managing them. The marks upon these lads show that they have had a very cruel attack made upon them by somebody. You confessed that you struck one of them.

Well, I am not surprised, sir, that one took the other's part. I say this, not as a magistrate, but as a man. You have to my mind, sir, certainly been in the wrong--so have they, for they had their remedy if they were ill-used by applying to a magistrate. So understand this, boys--I do not consider you have done right, though I must own that you had great provocation."

"Then am I to understand, sir," began Mr Dempster, in a very different tone of voice to that which he had before used, "that you are not going to punish these young scoundrels?"

"Have the goodness to recollect where you are, sir," said the old alderman sternly. "Yes, sir, I dismiss the case."

"Then a more contemptible mockery of justice," roared Mr Dempster, "I never saw."

"Exactly," said the old alderman, quietly; "your words, Mr Dempster, quite endorse my opinion. You are a man of ungovernable temper, and not fit to have charge of boys."

"Then--"

"That will do, sir.--The next case."

"I should like to shake hands with that old chap," whispered Esau; and then aloud, as he tossed his cap in the air, "Hooray!"

There was a roar of laughter in the court, and the old alderman turned very fiercely upon Esau, and shook his head at him, but I half fancy I saw him smile, as he turned to a gentleman at his side.

Then in the midst of a good deal of bustle in the court, and the calling of people's names, the policeman hurried us both away, and soon after stood shaking hands with us both.

"You've both come off splendid, my lads," he said, "and I'm glad of it.

Old Sir Thomas saw through Master Dempster at once. I know him; he's a bad 'un--regular bully. One of his men--Dingle, isn't his name?--has often told me about him."

"Ah, you don't know half," said Esau.

"Quite enough, anyhow," said the constable, clapping Esau on the shoulder; "and you take my advice, don't you go back to him."

"No," said Esau; "he wouldn't have us if we wanted."

"What are you going to do, then?"

"Join the Royal Artillery," said Esau, importantly.

"Join the Royal Nonsense, boy!" said the big, bluff constable. "Better be a p.c. than that. Plenty of gents in the city want clerks."

"Then," said Esau, "they shan't have me."