'Was the prisoner Hardwick there carrying a gun?'
'I can't be sure. He might have been. I thought I saw him, but I wasn't near him, and I can't be sure in my mind.'
'You can't be sure?' asked the Crown Prosecutor angrily. 'Didn't you swear at the Police Court at Dilga that you saw him not only holding a gun, but firing it towards the steamer? I'll read your deposition. "I saw the prisoner holding the gun produced. He appeared to have been firing it."'
'Now, Mr. Stoate, is that your signature? and how do you account for your going back on your sworn evidence? You're intelligent enough—in a way. I am at a loss to understand your conduct.'
'Well, I was a bit flurried at the time—confused like. The police came down and charged the mob, and a lot of the shearers cleared out.'
'Then you won't swear that Hardwick held the gun, or fired it?'
'No; I wasn't near enough to him to be dead certain. It was a man like him.'
'Your Honour,' said the Crown Prosecutor, 'this is a most extraordinary change of front on the part of this witness; it amounts to gross prevarication, if not something worse. I may have occasion to prosecute him for perjury. You may go down, sir.'
'Not yet. With your Honour's permission, I propose to cross-examine the witness,' interposed Mr. Biddulph. 'Now, Mr. Delegate Stoate, is Janus your Christian name?'
'Yes.'