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?"

"Can you be more specific?"

"I refer to the night when Captain Richardson found the prisoner in the
chart-room and ordered him on deck."

"I recall that, yes."

"Where were you during the quarrel?"

"I was behind Mr. Vail."

"Tell us about it, please."

"It was an ordinary brawl. The captain knocked the mate down."

"Did you hear the mate threaten the captain?"

"No. He went on deck, mut