The great case of Dunning _versus_ Dixon came on at last.
On that day Captain Dunning was in a fever; Glynn Proctor was in a
fever; Tim Rokens was in a fever; the Misses Dunning were in two
separate fevers--everybody, in fact, on the Dunning side of the case was
in a fever of nervous anxiety and mental confusion. As witnesses in the
case, they had been precognosced to such an extent by the lawyers that
their intellects were almost overturned. On being told that he was to
be precognosced. Tim Rokens said stoutly, "He'd like to see the man as
'ud do it"; under the impression that that was the legal term for being
kicked, or otherwise maltreated; and on being informed that the word
signified merely an examination as to the extent of his knowledge of the
facts of the case, he said quietly, "Fire away!" Before they had done
firing away, the gallant harpooner was so confused that he began to
regard the whole case as already hopeless.
The other men were much in the same condition; but in a private meeting
held among themselves the day before the trial, Rokens made the
following speech, which comforted them not a little.
"Messmates and shipmates," said Tim, "I'll tell ye wot it is. I'm no
lawyer--that's a fact--but I'm a man; an' wot's a man?--it ain't a
bundle o' flesh an' bones on two legs, with a turnip a-top o't, is it?"
"Be no manes," murmured Briant, with an approving nod.
"Cer'nly not," remarked Dick Barnes. "I second that motion."
"Good," continued Rokens. "Then, bein' a man, I've got brains enough to
see that, if we don't want to contredick one another, we must stick to
the truth."
"You don't suppose I'd go fur to tell lies, do you?" said Tarquin
quickly.
"In coorse not. But what I mean to say is, that we must stick to what
we _knows_ to be the truth, and not be goin' for to guess at it, or
_think_ that we knows it, and then swear to it as if we wos certain
sure."
"Hear! hear!" from the assembled company.
"In fact," observed Glynn, "let what we say be absolutely true, and say
just as little as we can. That's how to manage a good case."
"An', be all manes," added Briant, "don't let any of ye try for to
improve matters be volunteerin' yer opinion. Volunteerin' opinions is
stuff. Volunteerin' is altogether a bad look-out. I know'd a feller, I
did--a strappin' young feller he was, too, more betoken--as volunteered
himself to death, he did. To be sure, his wos a case o' volunteerin'
into the Louth Militia, and he wos shot, he wos, in a pop'lar riot, as
the noosepapers said--a scrimmage, I calls it--so don't let any o' us be
goin' for to volunteer opinions w'en nobody axes 'em--no, nor wants
'em."
Briant looked so pointedly at Gurney while delivering this advice that
that obese individual felt constrained to look indignant, and inquire
whether "them 'ere imperent remarks wos meant for him." To which Briant
replied that "they wos meant for him, as well as for ivery man then
present." Whereupon Gurney started up and shook his fist across the
table at Briant, and Briant made a face at Gurney, at which the
assembled company of mariners laughed, and immediately thereafter the
meeting was broken up.
Next day the trial came on, and as the case was expected to be more than
usually interesting, the house was filled to overflowing long before the
hour.
The trial lasted all that day, and all the next, and a great part of the
third, but we do not purpose going into it in detail. The way in which
Mr Rasp (Captain Dunning's counsel) and Mr Tooth (Captain Dixon's
counsel) badgered, browbeat, and utterly bamboozled the witnesses on
both sides, and totally puzzled the jury, can only be understood by
those who have frequented courts of law, but could not be fully or
adequately described in less than six hundred pages.
In the course of the trial the resolutions come to by the crew of the
_Red Eric_, that they would tell _nothing_ but the truth, and carefully
refrain from touching on what they were not quite sure of, proved to be
of the greatest advantage to the pursuer's case. We feel constrained
here to turn aside for one moment to advise the general adoption of that
course of conduct in all the serious affairs of life.
The evidence of Tim Rokens was clear and to the point. The whale had
been first struck by Glynn with a harpoon, to which a drogue was
attached; it had been followed up by the crew of the _Red Eric_ and also
by the crew of the _Termagant_. The boats of the latter over-took the
fish first, fixed a harpoon in it, and lanced it mortally. The drogue
and harpoon of the _Red Eric_ were still attached to the whale when this
was done, so that, according to the laws of the fishery, the crew of the
_Termagant_ had no right to touch the whale--it was a "fast" fish. If
the drogue had become detached the fish would have been free, and both
crews would have been entitled to chase and capture it if they were
able. Angry words and threats had passed between the crews of the
opposing boats, but the whale put a stop to that by smashing the boat of
the _Red Eric_ with its tail, whereupon the boat of the _Termagant_ made
off with the fish (which died almost immediately after), and left the
crew of the boat belonging to the _Red Eric_ struggling in the water.
Such was the substance of the evidence of the harpooner, and neither
cross-examination nor re-cross-examination by Mr Tooth, the counsel for
the defendant, could induce Tim Rokens to modify, alter, omit, or
contradict one iota of what he had said.
It must not be supposed, however, that all of the men gave their
evidence so clearly or so well. The captain did, though he was somewhat
nervous, and the doctor did, and Glynn did. But that of Nikel Sling was
unsatisfactory, in consequence of his being unable to repress his
natural tendency to exaggeration. Tarquin also did harm; for, in his
spite against the crew of the _Termagant_, he made statements which were
not true, and his credit as a witness was therefore totally destroyed.
Last of all came Jim Scroggles, who, after being solemnly sworn, deposed
that he was between thirty-five and thirty-six years of age, on hearing
which Gurney said "Oh!" with peculiar emphasis, and the people laughed,
and the judge cried "Silence," and the examination went on. After some
time Mr Tooth rose to cross-question Jim Scroggles, who happened to be
a nervous man in public, and was gradually getting confused and angry.
"Now, my man, please to be particular in your replies," said Mr Tooth,
pushing up his spectacles on his forehead, thrusting his hands into his
trousers pockets, and staring very hard at Jim. "You said that you
pulled the second oar from the bow on the day in which the whale was
killed."
"Yes."
"Are you quite sure of that? Was it not the _third_ oar, now?"
"Yes or no," interrupted Mr Tooth.
"It's so long since--"
"Yes or no," repeated Mr Tooth.
"Yes," roared Scroggles, forgetting at the moment, in his confusion and
indignation at not being allowed to speak, in what manner the question
had been put.
"Yes," echoed Mr Tooth, addressing the judge, but looking at the jury.
"You will observe, gentlemen. Would your lordship be so good as to note
that? This witness, on that very particular occasion, when every point
in the circumstances must naturally have been impressed deeply on the
memories of all present, appears to have been so confused as not to know
which oar of the boat he pulled. So, my man" (turning to the witness),
"it appears evident that either you are now mis-stating the facts of the
case or were then incapable of judging of them."
Jim Scroggles felt inclined to leap out of the witness-box, and knocked
the teeth of Mr Tooth down his throat! But he repressed the
inclination, and that gentleman went on to say--
"When the boat of the _Red Eric_ came up to the whale was the drogue
still attached to it?"
"In coorse it was. Didn't ye hear me say that three or--"
"Be so good as to answer my questions simply, and do not make
unnecessary remarks, sir. Was the drogue attached when the boat came
up? Yes or no?"
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"'Cause I seed it."
"You are quite sure that you saw it?"
"In coorse!--leastwise, Tim Rokens seed it, and all the men in the boat
seed it, and said so to me afterwards--w'ich is the same thing, though I
can't 'xactly say I seed it myself, 'cause I was looking hard at the men
in the enemy's boat, and considerin' which on 'em I should give a dab in
the nose to first w'en we come along side of 'em."
"Oh, then you did _not_ see the drogue attached to the whale?" said Mr
Tooth, with a glance at the jury; "and you were so taken up with the
anticipated fight, I suppose, that you scarcely gave your attention to
the whale at all! Were the other men in your boat in a similarly
unobservant condition?"
"Eh?" exclaimed Scroggles.
"Were the other men as eager for the fight as you were?"
"I s'pose they wos; you'd better ax 'em. _I_ dun know."
"No, I don't suppose you do, considering the state of mind you appear to
have been in at the time. Do you know which part of the whale struck
your boat? Was it the head?"
"No; it was the tail."
"Are you quite sure of that?"
"Ho, yes, quite sartin, for I've got a knot on my head this day where
the tip of its flukes came down on me."
"You're quite sure of that? Might it not have been the part of the fish
near the tail, now, that struck you, or the fin just under the tail?"
"No; I'm quite sartin sure it warn't _that_."
"How are you so sure it wasn't that?"
"Because whales hain't got no fins just under their tails!" replied
Scroggles, with a broad grin.
There was another loud laugh at this, and Mr Tooth looked a little put
out, and the judge cried "Silence" again, and threatened to clear the
court.
After a few more questions Jim Scroggles was permitted to retire, which
he did oppressed with a feeling that his evidence had done the case
little good, if not some harm, yet rather elated than otherwise at the
success of his last hit.
That evening Captain Dunning supped with Ailie and his sisters in low
spirits. Glynn and the doctor and Tim Rokens and the two mates, Millons
and Markham, supped with him, also in low spirits; and King Bumble acted
the part of waiter, for that sable monarch had expressed an earnest
desire to become Captain Dunning's servant, and the captain had agreed
to "take him on," at least for a time. King Bumble was also in low
spirits; and, as a natural consequence, so were Aunts Martha and Jane
and little Ailie. It seemed utterly incomprehensible to the males of
the party, how so good a case as this should come to wear such an
unpromising aspect.
"The fact is," said the captain, at the conclusion of a prolonged
discussion, "I don't believe we'll gain it."
"Neither do I," said the doctor, helping himself to a large quantity of
salad, as if that were the only comfort now left to him, and he meant to
make the most of it before giving way to total despair.
"I knew it," observed Aunt Martha firmly. "I always said the law was a
wicked institution."
"It's a great shame!" said Aunt Jane indignantly; "but what could we
expect? It treats every one ill."
"Won't it treat Captain Dixon well, if he wins, aunt?" inquired Ailie.
"Dear child, what can you possibly know about law?" said Aunt Martha.
"Would you like a little more tart?" asked Aunt Jane.
"Bravo! Ailie," cried Glynn, "that's a fair question. I back it up."
"How much do you claim for damages, George?" inquired Aunt Martha,
changing the subject.
("Question!" whispered Glynn.)
"Two thousand pounds," answered the captain.
"What!" exclaimed the aunts, in a simultaneous burst of amazement. "All
for _one_ fish?"
"Ay, it was a big one, you see, and Dick Jones, one of the men of the
_Termagant_, told me it was sold for that. It's a profitable fishing,
when one doesn't lose one's ship. What do you say to go with me and
Ailie on our next trip, sisters? You might use up all your silk and
worsted thread and crooked pins."
"What nonsense you talk, George; but I suppose you really do use pretty
large hooks and lines when you fish for whales?"
Aunt Martha addressed the latter part of her remark to Tim Rokens, who
seemed immensely tickled by the captain's pleasantry.
"Hooks and lines, ma'am!" cried Rokens, regarding his hostess with a
look of puzzled surprise.
"To be sure we do," interrupted Glynn; "we use anchors baited with live
crocodiles--sometimes elephants, when we can't get crocodiles. But
hippopotamuses do best."
"Oh! Glynn!" cried Ailie, laughing, "how can you?"
"It all depends on the drogue," remarked the doctor. "I'm surprised to
find how few of the men can state with absolute certainty that they saw
the drogue attached to the whale when the boat came up to it. It all
hinges upon that."
"Yes," observed Mr Millons, "the 'ole case 'inges on that, because that
proves it was a fast fish."
"Dear me, Mr Millons," said Aunt Martha, smiling, "I have heard of fast
young men, but I never heard of a fast fish before."
"Didn't you, ma'am?" exclaimed the first mate, looking up in surprise,
for that matter-of-fact seamen seldom recognised a joke at first sight.
Aunt Martha, who very rarely ventured on the perpetration of a joke,
blushed, and turning somewhat hastily to Mr Markham, asked if he would
"take another cup of tea." Seeing that there was no tea on the table,
she substituted "another slice of ham," and laughed. Thereupon the
whole company laughed, and from that moment their spirits began to rise.
They began to discuss the more favourable points of the evidence led
that day, and when they retired at a late hour to rest, their hopes had
again become sanguine.
Next morning the examination of the witnesses for the defendant came on.
There were more of them than Dick Jones had expected; for the crew of
the _Termagant_ happened to be partly made up of very bad men, who were
easily bribed by their captain to give evidence in his favour. But it
soon became evident that they had not previously determined, as Captain
Dunning's men had done, to stick to the simple truth. They not only
contradicted each other but each contradicted himself more than once;
and it amazed them all, more than they could tell, to find how easily
Mr Rasp turned their thoughts outside in, and caused them to prove
conclusively that they were telling falsehoods.
After the case had been summed up by the judge, the jury retired to
consult, but they only remained five minutes away, and then came back
with a verdict in favour of the pursuers.
"Who's the `pursooers?'" inquired Gurney, when this was announced to him
by Nikel Sling. "Ain't we all pursooers? Wasn't we all pursooing the
whale together?"
"Oh, you grampus!" cried Nikel, laughing. "Don't ye know that _we_ is
the purshooers, 'cause why? We're purshooin' the cap'en and crew of the
_Termagant_ at law, and means to purshoo 'em too, I guess, till they
stumps up for that air whale. And they is the defendants, 'cause
they're s'posed to defend themselves to the last gasp; but it ain't o'
no manner o' use."
Nikel Sling was right. Captain Dixon _was_ pursued until he paid back
the value of his ill-gotten whale, and was forcibly reminded by this
episode in his career, that "honesty is the best policy" after all.
Thus Captain Dunning found himself suddenly put in possession of a sum
of two thousand pounds.