“Once more did I take up my place on the floor, standing beneath the little block of wood.
“‘Having brought it into court, what did you do with it?’
“I returned to my little block of wood, faced the place I had just occupied and said:
“‘I handed it up to His Holiness.’
“The Judge then spoke. ‘I have had enough of this and I refuse to waste the time of the Court longer. It is in my power to condemn you to the King’s dungeons for ever, and I may say that never in my long experience of our august Courts have I come across anything to parallel your repeated insolence. I have already told you that you have not proved your document and therefore for the purposes of this Court it does not exist. Stand down.’
“The words ‘stand down’ signify in the technical language of this great people ‘sit down,’ and can only be disobeyed under the most fearful penalties. I at once obeyed and resumed my place cross-legged upon the mat.
“The Judge was now free to give his decision, but first he turned to the Pleader who had opposed me and said in the most genial tones:
“‘Brother Selim, you have, I take it, proved your document, especially the word “and”?’
“‘Oh, yes, my lord,’ answered he, in a satisfied manner. ‘I have further interpleaded for secondary and excised the four principal terminants, all of which are duly stamped, passed, filed, recorded, exuded, denoted, permuted, polluted and redeemed.’ To each of these words the Judge nodded with greater and greater content, and then asked:
“‘Do you call any further witnesses, brother Selim?’