“The back teeth of a white man have small roots reaching 302 straight down,” expounded the “expert” solemnly, “while those of a negro have roots branching in every direction.”
“And how do you expect to determine this case?”
“By extracting one or more of the party’s back teeth,” announced the “expert” gravely, at the same time producing a huge pair of horseshoeing nippers.
Chino uttered a howl, but was violently restrained from bolting. He was understood to say that he didn’t want that mare. I should not have been a bit surprised if they had carried the idea of extraction to a finish; but the counsel for defence interposed, waiving the point. He did not want the fun to come to that sort of a termination.
Prosecution then offered the evidence of Chino’s brand. Now that old mare was branded from muzzle to tail, and on both sides. She must have been sold and resold four or five times for every year of her long and useful life. The network of brands was absolutely indecipherable.
“Shave her!” yelled some genius.
That idea caught hold. The entire gathering took an interest in the operation, which half a dozen men performed. They shaved that poor old mare from nose to the tip of her ratlike tail. Not even an eye-winker was left to her. She resembled nothing so much as one of the sluglike little Mexican hairless dogs we had seen on the Isthmus. The brands now showed plainly enough, but were as complicated as ever in appearance. Thunders of mock forensic oratory shook the air. I remember defence acknowledged that in that multiplicity of lines the figure of Chino’s brand could be traced; but pointed to the stars of the heavens and the figures of their constellations to 303 prove what could be done by a vivid imagination in evolving fancy patterns. By this time it was late, and court was adjourned until next week.
The following Sunday, after a tremendous legal battle, conducted with the relishing solemnity with which Americans like to take their fooling, it was decided to call in an expert on brands, and a certain California rancher ten miles distant was agreed upon.
“But,” objected the defence, “he is a countryman of the complainant. However honest, he will nevertheless sympathize with his own blood. Before the case is put before him, he should view these brands as an unprejudiced observer. I suggest that they be transcribed to paper and submitted to him without explanation.”
This appealed to the crowd. The astonished mare was again led out, and careful drawings made of her most remarkable sides. Then the case was again adjourned one week.