"No, the moon was shining bright."
"Then you say there was a moon and it was not dark."
"Yes, it was light enough for me to see him hit Metzker on the head."
"Now I want you to be very careful. I understand you to say the murder was committed about half past nine o'clock, and there was a bright moon at the time?"
"Yes, sir," said the witness positively.
"Very well. That is all."
Then Lawyer Lincoln produced an almanac showing that there was no moon that night till the early hours of the morning.
"This witness has perjured himself," he said, "and his whole story is a lie."
"Duff" Armstrong was promptly acquitted. The tears of that widowed mother and the gratitude of the boy he had rocked were the best sort of pay to Lawyer Lincoln for an act of kindness and life-saving.