The After House

"Explain 'lanyard."' "A cord--a sort of rope."

"It could not have fallen over the side and hung there?"

"It was fastened with a Blackwell hitch."

"Show us what you mean."

On cross-examination by Singleton's attorney, Burns was forced to

relate the incident of the night before his injury--that Mrs. Johns

had asked to see the axe, and he had shown it to her. He maintained

stoutly that she had not been near the bunk, and that the axe was

there when he locked the door.

Adams, called, testified to seeing a curious, misty-white object on

the forecastle-head. It had seemed to come over the bow. The

marlinespike he threw had had no lanyard.

Mrs. Turner and Miss Lee escaped with a light examination. Their

evidence amounted to little, and was practically the same. They

had retired early, and did not rouse until I called them. They

remained in their rooms most of the time after that, and were busy

caring for Mr. Turner, who had been ill. Mrs. Turner was good

enough to say that I had made them as safe and as comfortable as

possible.

The number of witnesses to be examined, and the searching grilling

to which most of them were subjected, would have dragged the case

to interminable length, had it not been for the attitude of the

judges, who discouraged quibbling and showed a desire to reach the

truth with the least possible delay. One of the judges showed the

wide and unbiased attitude of the court by a little speech after an

especially venomous contest.

"Gentlemen," he said, "we are attempting to get to a solution of

this thing. We are trying one man, it is true, but, in a certain

sense, we are trying every member of the crew, every person who

was on board the ship the night of the crime. We have a curious

situation. The murderer is before us, either in the prisoner's

dock or among the witnesses. Let us get at the truth without

bickering."

Mrs. Johns was called, following Miss Lee. I watched her carefully

on the stand. I had never fathomed Mrs. Johns, or her attitude

toward the rest of the party. I had thought, at the beginning of

the cruise, that Vail and she were incipient lovers. But she had

taken his death with a calmness that was close to indifference.

There was something strange and inexplicable in her tigerish

championship of Turner--and it remains inexplicable even now. I

have wondered since--was she in love with Turner, or was she only

a fiery partisan? I wonder!

She testified with an insolent coolness that clearly irritated the

prosecution--thinking over her replies, refusing to recall certain

things, and eyeing the jury with long, slanting glances that set

them, according to their type, either wriggling or ogling.

The first questions were the usual ones. Then: "Do you recall the night of the 31st of July?"