Free The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting Page B

going
down to speak to one of those men in white wigs; and I want you to wait
here and keep these two seats for us. Bob will stay with you. Keep an
eye on him—better hold on to his collar. I shan't be more than a minute
or so."
    With that the Doctor disappeared into the crowd which filled the main
part of the room.
    Then I saw the judge take up a funny little wooden hammer and knock on
his desk with it. This, it seemed, was to make people keep quiet, for
immediately every one stopped buzzing and talking and began to listen
very respectfully. Then another man in a black gown stood up and began
reading from a paper in his hand.
    He mumbled away exactly as though he were saying his prayers and didn't
want any one to understand what language they were in. But I managed to
catch a few words:
    "Biz—biz—biz—biz—biz—otherwise known as Luke the
Hermit, of—biz—biz—biz—biz—for killing his partner
with—biz—biz—biz—otherwise known as Bluebeard Bill on the night
of the—biz—biz—biz—in the biz—biz—biz—of Mexico. Therefore Her
Majesty's—biz—biz—biz—"
    At this moment I felt some one take hold of my arm from the back, and
turning round I found the Doctor had returned with one of the men in
white wigs.
    "Stubbins, this is Mr. Percy Jenkyns," said the Doctor. "He is Luke's
lawyer. It is his business to get Luke off—if he can."
    Mr. Jenkyns seemed to be an extremely young man with a round smooth face
like a boy. He shook hands with me and then immediately turned and went
on talking with the Doctor.
    "Oh, I think it is a perfectly precious idea," he was saying. "Of COURSE
the dog must be admitted as a witness; he was the only one who saw the
thing take place. I'm awfully glad you came. I wouldn't have missed this
for anything. My hat! Won't it make the old court sit up? They're always
frightfully dull, these Assizes. But this will stir things. A bulldog
witness for the defense! I do hope there are plenty of reporters
present—Yes, there's one making a sketch of the prisoner. I shall
become known after this—And won't Conkey be pleased? My hat!"
    He put his hand over his mouth to smother a laugh and his eyes fairly
sparkled with mischief. "Who is Conkey?" I asked the Doctor.
    "Sh! He is speaking of the judge up there, the Honorable Eustace
Beauchamp Conckley."
    "Now," said Mr. Jenkyns, bringing out a notebook, "tell me a little more
about yourself, Doctor. You took your degree as Doctor of Medicine at
Durham, I think you said. And the name of your last book was?"
    I could not hear any more for they talked in whispers; and I fell to
looking round the court again.
    Of course I could not understand everything that was going on, though it
was all very interesting. People kept getting up in the place the Doctor
called the witness-box, and the lawyers at the long table asked them
questions about "the night of the 29th." Then the people would get down
again and somebody else would get up and be questioned.
    One of the lawyers (who, the Doctor told me afterwards, was called the
Prosecutor) seemed to be doing his best to get the Hermit into trouble
by asking questions which made it look as though he had always been a
very bad man. He was a nasty lawyer, this Prosecutor, with a long nose.
    Most of the time I could hardly keep my eyes off poor Luke, who sat
there between his two policemen, staring at the floor as though he
weren't interested. The only time I saw him take any notice at all was
when a small dark man with wicked, little, watery eyes got up into the
witness-box. I heard Bob snarl under my chair as this person came into
the court-room and Luke's eyes just blazed with anger and contempt.
    This man said his name was Mendoza and that he was the one who had
guided the Mexican police to the mine after Bluebeard Bill had been
killed. And at every word he said I could hear Bob down below me
muttering between his teeth,
    "It's a lie! It's a lie! I'll chew his face. It's a lie!"
    And both the Doctor and