For several seconds the policeman was silent, then he told a lie.
"I canna say," he answered, "it war gone."
The chief shrugged his shoulders, and sent the man about the business of the day. The next time that the magistrates met, the question of Bob O' Tims's cock was again brought into court. The magistrate's clerk demanded if the case were settled.
To the great relief of the policeman, who was waiting in attendance, Bob O' Tims spoke up from the spot where he stood.
"Jim hadna stolen my cock after all, sir," he said, "for it came home the next morning."
"Then what happened to the cock that was brought into court on Tuesday?" demanded the magistrate's clerk. But nobody seemed to know.
Only, people used to wonder why Widow Gammer almost always gave a peculiar kind of snort when she spoke of Police Constable X, and why that worthy officer avoided her cottage ever after, and invariably turned down a side street if he saw the widow within speaking distance of him.