"No, sir."
"Why?"
"Rather not say. It's not my place to discuss my commanding officer."
"Excellent. By the way, Mr. Dodd, was the prisoner wearing a belt knife when he joined the ship?"
"He was, sir."
"May I request the court to have one or two of the newspaper reports read again with reference to the weapon?"
The clerk read two or three versions which described the murderer's blood-stained belt knife as found in the barge's cabin. The last version showed the weapon as clutched in the dead man's hand.
"That's right, sir," cried the prisoner, and when the doctor tried to silence him, so much the more he protested. "Why, I seen it!"
"Prisoner," said the magistrate, "you will be wise to leave your defense to your counsel."
"Bias! Bias!" The Reverend Herbert Beaver jumped up and shrieked in his shrill voice. "Bias! The court is shielding a felon!"