"How do you know it wasn't a piece of gas-pipe?"
"What's the use of such questions?" the judge asked impatiently. "The crime would be no less serious if the blow had been struck with a piece of gas-pipe."
"Your Honor," Braun replied, "it is a serious question. Brennan does not know what hit him and I do. In two more questions I think I can convince the Court that he does not know. Brennan," he turned to the witness, "you say that you had gone into the hallway to light your pipe. When you rushed out to attack the picket, did you see this gentleman coming down the street? Professor Longman, will you please rise? Brennan, did you see this gentleman coming down the street with that cane in his hand?"
Brennan had been wondering why Longman had come to the court. He looked at him suspiciously.
"No," he said. "I never saw that man till I got to the strike headquarters."
"Well, Brennan, are you quite sure, are you prepared to swear that when you were kicking Mrs. Muscovitz about this gentleman did not knock you down as you deserved—as any real man would have done?"
"I didn't kick the woman," Brennan said.
"That's not the question. Are you sure it wasn't Professor Longman who laid you out?"
For a moment Brennan hesitated. It was hard for him to believe that Yetta had knocked him senseless. He knew that Braun was trying to catch him in a perjury. And he had a guilty conscience.
"If it was him that hit me," he roared, "I'll have him sent up. I was doing my duty."