Jack Holloway was on his feet, a Fuzzy cradled in the crook of his left
arm, his white mustache bristling truculently.

"I am not a dead man, your Honors, and I am on trial here. The reason I'm
not dead is why I am on trial. My defense is that I shot Kurt Borch while
he was aiding and abetting in the killing of a Fuzzy. I want it
established in this court that it is murder to kill a Fuzzy."

The judge nodded slowly. "I will not dismiss the charges against Mr.
Holloway," he said. "Mr. Holloway had been arraigned on a charge of
murder; if he is not guilty, he is entitled to the vindication of an
acquittal. I am afraid, Mr. Coombes, that you will have to go on
prosecuting him."

Another brief stir, like a breath of wind over a grain field, ran through
the courtroom. The show was going on after all.

* * * * *

All the Fuzzies were in court this morning; Jack's six, and the five from
the constabulary post, and Ben's Flora and Fauna, and the four Ruth
Ortheris claimed. There was too much discussion going on for anybody to
keep an eye on them. Finally one of the constabulary Fuzzies, either
Dillinger or Dr. Crippen, and Ben Rainsford's Flora and Fauna, came
sauntering out into the open space between the tables and the bench
dragging the hose of a vacuum-duster. Ahmed Khadra ducked under a table
and tried to get it away from them. This was wonderful; screaming in
delight, they all laid hold of the other end, and Mike and Mitzi and
Superego and Complex ran to help them. The seven of them dragged Khadra
about ten feet before he gave up and let go. At the same time, an
incipient fight broke out on the other side of the arc of tables between
the head of the language department at Mallorysport Academy and a
spinsterish amateur phoneticist. At this point, Judge Pendarvis, deciding
that if you can't prevent it, relax and enjoy it, rapped a few times with
his gavel, and announced that court was recessed.

"You will all please remain here; this is not an adjournment, and if any
of the various groups who seem to be discussing different aspects of the
problem reach any conclusion they feel should be presented in evidence,
will they please notify the bench so that court can be reconvened. In any
case, we will reconvene at eleven thirty."

Somebody wanted to know if smoking would be permitted during the recess.
The Chief Justice said that it would. He got out a cigar and lit it. Mamma
Fuzzy wanted a pu