"Eating _kibbah arnabeiah_ and _mamoul_."
"I mean if you live in Augusta how did you happen to be in New York at precisely that time?"
"How you come in New York?" translated Mr. Tutt, while the jury laughed.
"Yes, yes; but you didn't come on just to be present at the murder, did you?"
"On Washington Street. I spend the winter. I do nothing. I rich man."
"How long did you stay when you just came on?"
Mr. Tutt sighed. The jury gave signs of impatience.
"Look here!" he demanded. "How many times have you gone over your story with the district attorney?"
"Didn't you tell the Grand Jury that Hassoun stabbed Babu with a long knife?"
"Didn't you go into a big room and put your hand on a book and swear?"
"Didn't you say first that Hassoun stabbed Babu?"
"Then didn't you come back and say he shot him?"
"And finally, didn't you say he strangled him--after you had heard that the coroner's physician had decided that that was how he was killed?"
Mr. Kahoots was apparently very much bored, but he was not bored in quite the same way as the judge, who, suddenly rousing himself, asked Mr. Tutt if he had any basis for asking such questions.
"Why, certainly," answered the old lawyer quietly. "I shall prove that this witness made three absolutely contradictory statements before the Grand Jury."
"I don't know," replied Pepperill faintly. "I had nothing to do with the proceedings before the Grand Jury."
"It would seem to me," he began, "as if a proper preparation of the case would have involved some slight attention to--Well, never mind! Proceed, Mr. Tutt."
"Kahoots!" cried the lawyer sternly. "Isn't it a fact that you have been convicted of crime yourself?"
The proprietor of the merry-go-round drew himself up indignantly.
"Weren't you convicted of assault on a man named Rafoul Rabyaz?"
"Me? Look here, sir! I tell you 'bout dat! This Rafoul Rabyaz he my partner, see, in pool, billiard and cigar business on Greenwich Street. This long time ago. Years ago. We split up. I sell heem my shares, see. I open next door--pool table, café and all. But I not get full half the stock. I not get the tablecloth, see. I was of the tablecloth you know short. It don't be there. I go back there that time. I see heem. I say, 'We don't count those tablecloth.' He say, 'Yes.' I say,'No.' He say,'Yes.' I say 'No.' He say, 'Yes.' I say, 'No'--"