Pot.  So we gathered.

J.  N. (writing).  “They did not find the arms because they had been sold.”

Mr. H.  Well, Constable, that will do.

J.  N.  Prisoner, do you wish to ask the Constable any questions?

J.  F.  Well, I don’t know.  I strongly suspect that you have made up your mind which way the jury shall make up their minds, so it isn’t much use.  However, I will ask him three questions.  Constable Potlegoff, at how many do you estimate the dense crowd at Beadon Road, when I obstructed?

Pot.  Upwards of a thousand.

J.  F.  H’m; a good meeting!  How many were present at that meeting of the Socialist League where we were plotting to make the Queen take in washing?

Pot.  Upwards of two hundred.

J.  F.  Lastly, when I told you in the public-house that we were two millions strong, were you drunk or sober?

Pot.  Sober.

J.  F.  H’m!  It’s a matter of opinion perhaps as to when a man is drunk.  Was I sober?

Pot.  No; drunk.

J.  F.  H’m!  So I should think.  That’ll do, Mr. Potlegoff; I won’t muddle your “Rent-of-Ability” any more.  Good bye.

[SERGEANT STICKTOIT called.

Mr. H.  Have you heard the prisoner speaking?

St.  Yes.

Mr. H.  Where?

St.  At Beadon Road amongst other places:  that’s where I took him.

Mr. H.  What was he doing?

St.  Standing on a stool, speaking

Mr. H.  Yes; speaking:  to how many people?

St.  About a thousand.

Mr. H.  Could you get near him?

St.  Nowhere near.

Mr. H.  Well, can you tell me what he was saying?

St.  Well, he said that all the rich people and all the shopkeepers (glancing at the Jury) should be disemboweled and flayed alive, and that all arrangements had been made for doing it, if only the workingmen would combine.  He then went into details as to where various detachments were to meet in order to take the Bank of England and capture the Queen.  He also threatened to smash Mr. Justice Nupkins’ “Rent-of-Ability,” by which I understood him to mean his skull.

J.  N.  His—­my brains, you mean!

St.  No, my lord; for he said that you—­that he—­hadn’t any brains.

Mr. H.  Did you find any documents or papers on him when he was arrested?

St.  Yes; he had a bundle of papers with him.

Mr. H.  Like this? (showing a number of “Commonweal”)

St.  Yes.

J.  F. (Aside:  Two quires that I couldn’t sell, damn it!)

Mr. H.  We put this paper in, my lord.  Your lordship will notice the vileness of the incendiarism contained in it.  I specially draw your attention to this article by one Bax, who as you will see, is familiar with the use of dynamite to a fearful extent. (J.  N. reads, muttering “Curse of Civilisation.”) Gentlemen of the Jury that is our case.