Nibet was indifferent to the cry.
"He understands!... For my part, I am all for keeping to a proper procedure.... I would not have agreed to sit in judgment on him if he had been unable to defend himself.... We don't act that way down here!"
Turning to his acolytes for signs of their approval, he continued:
"Beard! The word is with you! Let us hear why he has been brought up to judgment!... Tell us what he is accused of!... Bring up all there is against him!"
Beard, who was marching up and down between the hooligan tribunal and the accused, who was half dead, and incapable of making a rational statement, stopped, squared himself with an air of satisfaction, and began his speech for the prosecution.
"Jules, has anyone ever done you any harm here?... Has anyone played cowardly tricks on you?... Set traps to catch you in?... Have you ever been cheated out of your fair share of the spoil?... Is there anything you can bring up against us?... No?... Well, here's what we have against you ... it's not worth while lying about it either!... You are the one who has taken the wind out of our sails over the Danidoff affair ... do you confess that?"
In a voice barely intelligible Jules gasped out:
"Beard ... I don't understand you!... I have done nothing—nothing.... What have you against me?..."
Beard took his time.
Planted before the prisoner, with hip stuck out and hand in pocket, the other hand raised in tragic invocation towards his comrades: