ELI

By Heman White Chaplin

1887

First published in the "Century Magazine. "

I. 

Under a boat, high and dry at low tide, on the beach, John Wood wasseated in the sand, sheltered from the sun in the boat's shadow, absorbed in the laying on of verdigris. The dull, worn color was rapidlygiving place to a brilliant, shining green. Occasionally a scraper, which lay by, was taken up to remove the last trace of a barnacle. 

It was Wood's boat, but he was not a boatman; he painted cleverly, buthe was not a painter. He kept the brown store under the elms of the mainstreet, now hot and still, where at this-moment his blushing sister wascaptivating the heart of an awkward farmer's boy as she sold him a pairof striped suspenders. 

As the church clock struck the last of twelve decided blows, threechildren came rushing out of the house on the bank above the beach. Itwas one of those deceptive New England cottages, weather-worn without, but bright and bountifully home-like within, --with its trim parlor, proud of a cabinet organ; with its front hall, now cooled by the lightsea-breeze drifting through the blind-door, where a tall clock issuedits monotonous call to a siesta on the rattan lounge; with its spareroom, open now, opposite the parlor, and now, too, drawing in the saltair through close-shut blinds, in anticipation of the joyful arrivalthis evening of Sister Sarah, with her little brood, from the city. 

The children scampered across the road, and then the eldest hushed theothers and sent a little brother ahead to steal, barefoot, along theshining sea-weed to his father. 

The plotted surprise appeared to succeed completely. The painter wasseized by the ears from behind, and captured. 

"Guess who 's here, or you can't get up, " said the infant captor. 

"It 's Napoleon Bonaparte; don't joggle, " said his father, running abrush steadily along the water-line. 

"No! no! no!" with shouts of laughter from the whole attacking party. 

"Then it's Captain Ezekiel. "

This excited great merriment: Captain Ezekiel was an aged, purblind man, who leaned on a cane. 

After attempts to identify the invader--with the tax-collector come fortaxes, then with the elderly minister making a pastoral call, with theformal schoolmaster, and with Samuel J. Tilden--the victim reached overhis shoulder, and, seizing the assailant by a handful of calico jacket, brought him around, squirming, before him. 

"Now, " he said, "I 'll give you a coat of verdigris. (Great applausefrom the reserve force behind. )

"I suppose Mother sent you to say dinner's ready, " said the father, rising and surveying the green bottom of the boat. "I must eat quick, soas to do the other side before half-flood. "

And with a child on each shoulder, and the third pushing him frombehind with her head, he marched toward the vine-covered kitchen, where, between two opposite netted doors, the table was trimly set. 

"Father, you look like a mermaid, with your green hands, " said his wife, laughing, as she handed him the spirits of turpentine. "A woman couldpaint that boat, in a light dress, and not get a spot on her. "

He smiled good-naturedly: he never spoke much. 

"I guess Louise won't have much trade today, " said his wife, as they allsat down; "it's so hot in the sun that everybody 'll wait till night. But she has her tatting-work to do, and she 's got a book, too, that shewanted to finish. "

Her husband nodded, and ate away. 

"Oh, can't we go up street and see her, this afternoon?" said one of thechildren. 

"Who can that be?" said the mother, as an elderly, half-official-lookingman stopped his horse at the front gate and alighted. The man left thehorse unchecked to browse by the roadside, and came to the door. 

"Oh, it 's you, Captain Nourse, " said Wood, rising to open the nettingdoor, and holding out his hand. "Come to summons me as a witness insomething about the bank case, I suppose. Let me introduce CaptainNourse, Mary, " he said, "deputy sheriff. Sit down, Captain, and havesome dinner with us. "

"No, I guess I won't set, " said the captain. "I cal'lated not to eattill I got home, in the middle o' the afternoon. No, I 'll set down ineye-shot of the mare, and read the paper while you eat. "

"I hope they don't want me to testify anywhere to-day, " said Wood;"because my boat's half verdigris'd, and I want to finish her thisafternoon. "

"No testimony to-day, " said the captain. "Hi! hi! Kitty!" he called tothe mare, as she began to meander across the road; and he went out toa tree by the front fence, and sat down on a green bench, beside awork-basket and a half-finished child's dress, and read the countrypaper which he had taken from the office as he came along. 

After dinner Wood went out bareheaded, and leaned on the fence by thecaptain. His wife stood just inside the door, looking out at them. 

The "bank case" was the great sensation of the town, and Wood was oneof the main witnesses, for he had been taking the place of the absentcashier when the safe was broken open and rifled to the widespreaddistress of depositors and stockholders, and the ruin of Hon. EdwardClark, the president. Wood had locked the safe on the afternoon beforethe eventful night, and had carried home the key with him, and he was totestify to the contents of the safe as he had left it. 

"I guess they 're glad they 've got such a witness as John, " said hiswife to herself, as she looked at him fondly, "and I guess they thinkthere won't be much doubt about what he says. "

"Well, Captain, " said Wood, jocosely, breaking a spear of grass to bitsin his fingers, "I did n't know but you 'd come to arrest me. "

The captain calmly smiled as only a man can smile who has been accostedwith the same humorous remark a dozen times a day for twenty years. He folded his paper carefully, put it in his pocket, took offhis spectacles and put them in their silver case, took a red silkhandkerchief from his hat, wiped his face, and put the handkerchiefback. Then he said shortly, --

"That's what I _have_ come for. "

Wood, still leaning on the fence, looked at him, and said nothing. 

"That's just what I 've come for, " said Captain Nourse. "I 've got toarrest you; here's the warrant. " And he handed it to him. 

"What does this mean?" said Wood. "I can't make head or tail of this. "

"Well, " said the captain, "the long and short is, these high-toneddetectives that they 've hed down from town, seein' as our own forcewas n't good enough, allow that the safe was unlocked with a key, in dueform, and then the lock was broke afterward, to look as if it had beenforced open. They 've hed the foreman of the safe-men down, too, and hesays the same thing. Naturally, the argument is, there was only two keysin existence, --one was safe with the president of the bank, and is aboutall he 's got to show out of forty years' savings; the only other oneyou hed: consequently, it heaves it onto you. "

"I see, " said Wood. "I will go with you. Do you want to come into thehouse with me while I get my coat?"

"Well, I suppose I must keep you in sight, --now you know. "

And they went into the house. 

"Mary, " said her husband, "the folks that lost by Clark when the bankbroke have been at him until he 's felt obliged to pitch on somebody, and he's pitched on me; and Captain Nourse has come to arrest me. Ishall get bail before long. "

She said nothing, and did not shed a tear till he was gone. 

But then--

II. 

Wide wastes of salt-marsh to the right, imprisoning the upland with avain promise of infinite liberty, and, between low, distant sandhills, a rim of sea. Stretches of pine woods behind, shutting in from the greatouter world, and soon to darken into evening gloom. Ploughed fields andelm-dotted pastures to the left, and birch-lined roads leading by whitefarm-houses to the village, all speaking of cheer and freedom to theprosperous and the happy, but to the unfortunate and the indebted, ofmeshes invisible but strong as steel. But, before, no lonesome marshes, no desolate forest, no farm or village street, but the free blue ocean, rolling and tumbling still from the force of an expended gale. 

In the open doorway of a little cottage, warmed by the soft slantingrays of the September sun, a rough man, burnt and freckled, was sitting, at his feet a net, engaged upon some handiwork which two little girlswere watching. Close by him lay a setter, his nose between his paws. Occasionally the man raised his eyes to scan the sea. 

"There's Joel, " he said, "comin' in around the Bar. Not much airstirrin' now!"

Then he turned to his work again. 

"First, you go _so_ fash', " he said to the children, as he drew athread; "then you go _so_ fash'. "

And as he worked he made a great show of labor, much to their diversion. 

But the sight of Joel's broad white sail had not brought pleasantthoughts to his mind; for Joel had hailed him, off the Shoal, theafternoon before, and had obligingly offered to buy his fish rightthere, and so let him go directly home, omitting to mention that suddenjump of price due to an empty market. 

"Wonder what poor man he 's took a dollar out of to-day! Well, I s'poseit's all right: those that 's got money, want money. "

"What be you, Eli--ganging on hooks?" said Aunt Patience, as she tiptoedinto the kitchen behind him, from his wife's sick-room, and softlyclosed the door after her. 

"No, " said the elder of the children; "he 's mending our stockings, andshowing me how. "

"Well, you do have a hard time, don't you?" said Aunt Patience, lookingdown over his shoulder; "to slave and tug and scrape to get a house overyour head, and then to have to turn square 'round, and stay to home witha sick woman, and eat all into it with mortgages!"

"Oh, well, " he said, "we 'll fetch, somehow. "

Aunt Patience went to the glass, and holding a black pin in her mouth, carefully tied the strings of her sun-bonnet. 

"Anyway, " she says, "you take it good-natured. Though if there is onething that's harder than another, it is to be good-natured all thetime, without being aggravating. I have known men that was so awfullygood-natured that they was harder to live with than if they was cross!"

And without specifying further, she opened her plaid parasol and steppedout at the porch. 

Though, on this quiet afternoon of Saturday, the peace of theapproaching Sabbath seemed already brooding over the little dwelling, peace had not lent her hand to the building of the home. Every foot ofland, every shingle, every nail, had been wrung from the reluctant sea. Every voyage had contributed something. It was a great day when Eli wasable to buy the land. Then, between two voyages, he dug a cellar andlaid a foundation; then he saved enough to build the main part of thecottage and to finish the front room, lending his own hand to the work. Then he used to get letters at every port, telling of progress, --howLizzie, his wife, had adorned the front room with a bright ninepennypaper, of which a little piece was enclosed, --which he kept as a sortof charm about him and exhibited to his friends; how she and her littlebrother had lathed the entry and the kitchen, and how they had set outblackberry vines from the woods. Then another letter told of a surpriseawaiting him on his return; and, in due time, coming home as third matefrom Hong-Kong to a seaman's tumultuous welcome, he had found that agreat, good-natured mason, with whose sick child his wife had watchednight after night, had appeared one day with lime and hair and sand, and in white raiment, and had plastered the entry and the kitchen, andfinished a room upstairs. 

And so, for years, at home and on the sea, at New York and at Valparaisoand in the Straits of Malacca, the little house and the little familywithin it had grown into the fibre of Eli's heart. Nothing had given himmore delight than to meet, in the strange streets of Calcutta or beforethe Mosque of Omar, some practical Yankee from Stonington or Machias, and, whittling to discuss with him, among the turbans of the Orient, the comparative value of shaved and of sawed shingles, or the economyof "Swedes-iron" nails, and to go over with him the estimates and planswhich he had worked out in his head under all the constellations of theskies. 

The supper things were cleared away. The children had said good-nightand gone to bed, and Eli had been sitting for an hour by his wife'sbedside. He had had to tax his patience and ingenuity heavily during thelong months that she had lain there to entertain her for a little whilein the evening, after his hard, wet day's work. He had been talking nowof the coming week, when he was to serve upon the jury in the adjoiningcounty-town. 

"I cal'late I can come home about every night, " he said, "and it 'll bequite a change, at any rate. "

"But you don't seem so cheerful about it as I counted you would be, "said his wife. "Are you afraid you'll have to be on the bank case?"

"Not much!" he answered. "No trouble 'n that case! Jury won't leavetheir seats. These city fellers 'll find they 've bit off more 'n theycan chew when they try to figure out John Wood done that. I only hopeI 'll have the luck to be on that case--all hands on the jury whispertogether a minute, and then clear him, right on the spot, and then shakehands with him all 'round!"

"But something is worrying you, " she said. "What is it? You have lookedit since noon. "

"Oh, nothin', " he replied--"only George Cahoon came up to-noon to saythat he was goin' West next week, and that he would have to have thatmoney he let me have awhile ago. And where to get it--I don't know. "

III. 

The court-room was packed. John Wood's trial was drawing to its close. Eli was on the jury. Some one had advised the prosecuting attorney, in awhisper, to challenge him, but he had shaken his head and said, --

"Oh, I could n't afford to challenge him for that; it would only leakout, and set the jury against me. I 'll risk his standing out againstthis evidence. "

The trial had been short. It had been shown how the little buildingof the bank had been entered. Skilled locksmiths from the city hadtestified that the safe was opened with a key, and that the lock wasbroken afterward, from the inside, plainly to raise the theory of aforcible entry by strangers. 

It had been proved that the only key in existence, not counting thatkept by the president, was in the possession of Wood, who was filling, for a few days, the place of the cashier--the president's brother--inhis absence. It had been shown that Wood was met, at one o'clock ofthe night in question, crossing the fields toward his home, fromthe direction of the bank, with a large wicker basket slung over hisshoulders, returning, as he had said, from eel-spearing in Harlow'sCreek; and there was other circumstantial evidence. 

Mr. Clark, the president of the bank, had won the sympathy of every oneby the modest way in which, with his eye-glasses in his hand, he hadtestified to the particulars of the loss which had left him penniless, and had ruined others whose little all was in his hands. And then inreply to the formal question, he had testified, amid roars of laughterfrom the court-room, that it was not he who robbed the safe. At this, even the judge and Wood's lawyer had not restrained a smile. 

This had left the guilt with Wood. His lawyer, an inexperienced youngattorney, --who had done more or less business for the bank and wouldhardly have ventured to defend this case but that the president hadkindly expressed his entire willingness that he should do so, --had, ofcourse, not thought it worth while to cross-examine Mr. Clark, and haddirected his whole argument against the theory that the safe had beenopened with a key, and not by strangers. But he had felt all throughthat, as a man politely remarked to him when he finished, he was onlybutting his "head ag'in a stone wall. "

And while he was arguing, a jolly-looking old lawyer had written, inthe fly-leaf of a law-book on his knee, and had passed with a wink to ayoung man near him who had that very morning been admitted to the bar, these lines:--

 "When callow Blackstones soar too high, Quit common-sense, and reckless fly, Soon, Icarus-like, they headlong fall, And down come client, case, and all. "

The district-attorney had not thought it worth while to expend muchstrength upon his closing argument; but being a jovial stump-speaker, ofa wide reputation within narrow limits, he had not been able to refrainfrom making merry over Wood's statement that the basket which he hadbeen seen bearing home, on the eventful night, was a basket of eels. 

"Fine eels those, gentlemen! We have seen gold-fish and silver-fish, butgolden eels are first discovered by this defendant The apostle, in HolyWrit, caught a fish with a coin in its mouth; but this man leaves theapostle in the dim distance when he finds eels that are all money. Nostoried fisherman of Bagdad, catching enchanted princes disguised asfishes in the sea, ever hooked such a treasure as this defendant hookedwhen he hooked that basket of eels! [Rustling appreciation of the jestamong the jury. ] If a squirming, twisting, winding, wriggling eel, gentlemen, can be said at any given moment to have a back, we maydistinguish this new-found species as the greenback eel. It is a commonsaying that no man can hold an eel and remain a Christian. I should liketo have viewed the pious equanimity of this good man when he laid hishands on that whole bed of eels. In happy, barefoot boyhood, gentlemen, we used to find mud-turtles marked with initials or devices cut in theirshells; but what must have been our friend's surprise to find, in themuddy bed of Harlow's Creek, eels marked with a steel-engraving of thelanding of Columbus and the signature of the Register of the Treasury! Ihear that a corporation is now being formed by the title of The Harlow'sCreek Greenback National Bank-bill Eel-fishing Company, to follow up, with seines and spears, our worthy friend's discovery! I learn that thenews of this rich placer has spread to the golden mountains of the West, and that the exhausted intellects which have been reduced to such namesfor their mines as 'The Tombstone, ' 'The Red Dog, ' the 'Mrs. E. J. Parkhurst, ' are likely now to flood us with prospectuses of the 'EelMine, ' 'The Flat Eel, ' 'The Double Eel, ' and then, when they get readyto burst upon confiding friends, 'The Consolidated Eels. '"

It takes but little to make a school or a court-room laugh, and thespeech had appeared to give a good deal of amusement to the listeners. 

To all?

Did it amuse that man who sat, with folded arms, harsh and rigid, atthe dock? Did it divert that white-faced woman, cowering in a corner, listening as in a dream?

The judge now charged the jury briefly. It was unnecessary for him, he said, to recapitulate evidence of so simple a character. The chiefquestion for the jury was as to the credibility of the witnesses. If thewitnesses for the prosecution were truthful and were not mistaken, theinference of guilt seemed inevitable; this the defendant's counsel hadconceded. The defendant had proved a good reputation; upon that pointthere was only this to be said: that, while such evidence was entitledto weight, yet, on the other hand, crimes involving a breach of trustcould, from their very nature, be committed only by persons whose goodreputations secured them positions of trust. 

The jury-room had evidently not been furnished by a ring. It had a longtable for debate, twelve hard chairs for repose, twelve spittoons forluxury, and a clock. 

The jury sat in silence for a few moments, as old Captain Nourse, whohad them in his keeping, and eyed them as if he was afraid that he mightlose one of them in a crack and be held accountable on his bond, rattledaway at the unruly lock. Looking at them then, you would have seen facesall of a New England cast but one. There was a tall, powerful negrocalled George Washington, a man well known in this county town, to whichhe had come, as driftwood from the storm of war, in '65. Some of the"boys" had heard him, in a great prayer-meeting in Washington--a citywhich he always spoke of as his "namesake"--at the time of the greatreview, say, in his strong voice, with that pathetic quaver in it: "Likeas de parched an' weary traveller hangs his harp upon de winder, an'sighs for oysters in de desert, so I longs to res' my soul an' myfoot in Mass'-chusetts;" and they were so delighted with him that theyinvited him on the spot to go home with them, and took up a collectionto pay his fare; and so he was a public character. As for hisoccupation, --when the census-taker, with a wink to the boys in thestore, had asked him what it was, he had said, in that same odd tone:"Putties up glass a little--whitewashes a little--" and, when the manhad made a show of writing all that down, "preaches a little. " He mighthave said, "preaches a big, " for you could hear him half a mile away. 

The foreman was a retired sea-captain. "Good cap'n--Cap'n Thomas, " oneof his neighbors had said of him. "Allers gits good ships--never hez togo huntin' 'round for a vessel. But it is astonishin' what differencesthey is! Now there 's Cap'n A. K. P. Bassett, down to the West Harbor. You let it git 'round that Cap'n A. K. P. Is goin' off on a Chinyvoyage, and you 'll see half a dozen old shays to once-t, hitched allalong his fence of an arternoon, and wimmen inside the house, to gitCap'n A. K. P. To take their boys. But you let Cap'n Thomas give outthat he wants boys, and he hez to glean 'em--from the poor-house, andfrom step-mothers, and where he can: the women knows! Still, " he added, "Cap'n Thomas 's a good cap'n. I've nothin' to say ag'in him. He'ssmart!"

"Gentlemen, " said the foreman, when the officer, at last, had securelylocked them in, "shall we go through the formality of a ballot? If thecase were a less serious one, we might have rendered a verdict in ourseats. "

"What's the use foolin' 'round ballotin'?" said a thick-set butcher. "Ain't we all o' one mind?"

"It is for you to say, gentlemen, " said the foreman. "I should n't wantto have it go abroad that we had not acted formally, if there was anyone disposed to cavil. "

"Mr. Speaker, " said George Washington, rising and standing in theattitude of Webster, "I rises to appoint to order. We took ballast in deprior cases, and why make flesh of one man an' a fowl of another?"

"Very well, " said the foreman, a trifle sharply; "'the longest way roundis the shortest way home. '"

Twelve slips of paper were handed out, to be indorsed guilty, "for form. " They were collected in a hat and the foreman told themover--"just for form. " "'Guilty, ' 'guilty, ' 'guilty, ' 'guilty, '--wait aminute, " he said, "here is a mistake. Here is one 'not guilty'--whose isthis?"

There was a pause. 

"Whose is it?" said the foreman, sharply. 

Eli turned a little red. 

"It's mine, " he said. 

"Do you mean it?" said the foreman. 

"Of course I mean it, " he answered. 

"Whew!" whistled the foreman. "Very well, sir; we'll have anunderstanding, then. This case is proved to the satisfaction of everyman who heard it, I may safely say, but one. Will that one please statethe grounds of his opinion?"

"I ain't no talker, " said Eli, "but I ain't satisfied he 'sguilty--that's all. "

"Don't you believe the witnesses?"

"Mostly. "

"Which one don't you believe?"

"I can't say. I don't believe he's guilty. "

"Is there one that you think lied?"

No answer. 

"Now it seems to me--" said a third juryman. 

"One thing at a time, gentlemen, " said the foreman. "Let us wait foran answer from Mr. Smith. Is there any one that you think lied? We willwait, gentlemen, for an answer. "

There was a long pause. The trial seemed to Eli Smith to have shiftedfrom the court to this shabby room, and he was now the culprit. 

All waited for him; all eyes were fixed upon him. 

The clock ticked loud! Eli counted the seconds. He knew thedetermination of the foreman. 

The silence became intense. 

"I want to say my say, " said a short man in a pea-jacket, --a retiredSan Francisco pilot, named Eldridge. "I entertain no doubt the man isguilty. At the same time, I allow for differences of opinion. Idon't know this man that's voted 'not guilty, ' but he seems to be awell-meaning man. I don't know his reasons; probably he don't understandthe case. I should like to have the foreman tell the evidence over, soas if he don't see it clear, he can ask questions, and we can explain. "

"I second de motion, " said George Washington. 

There was a general rustle of approval. 

"I move it, " said the pilot, encouraged. 

"Very well, Mr. Eldridge, " said the foreman. "If there is no objection, I will state the evidence, and if there is any loop-hole, I will troubleMr. Smith to suggest it as I go along;" and he proceeded to give asummary of the testimony, with homely force. 

"Now, sir?" he said, when he had finished. 

"I move for another ballot, " said Mr. Eldridge. 

The result was the same. Eli had voted "not guilty. "

"Mr. Smith, " said the foreman, "this must be settled in some way. Thisis no child's play. You can't keep eleven men here, trifling with them, giving no pretence of a reason. "

"I have n't no reasons, only that I don't believe he 's guilty, " saidEli. "I 'm not goin' to vote a man into State's-prison, when I don'tbelieve he done it, " and he rose and walked to the window and lookedout. It was low tide. There was a broad stretch of mud in the distance, covered with boats lying over disconsolate. A driving storm had emptiedthe streets. He beat upon the rain-dashed glass a moment with hisfingers, and then he sat down again. 

"Well, sir, " said the foreman, "this is singular conduct. What do youpropose to do?"

Silence. 

"I suppose you realize that the rest of us are pretty rapidly forming aconclusion on this matter, " said the foreman. 

"Come! come!" said Mr. Eldridge; "don't be quite so hard on him, Captain. Now, Mr. Smith, " he said, standing up with his hands in hiscoat-pockets and looking at Eli, "we know that there often is crookedsticks on juries, that hold out alone--that's to be expected; but theyalways argue, and stand to it the rest are fools, and all that. Now, all is, we don't see why you don't sort of argue, if you 've got reasonssatisfactory to you. Come, now, " he added, walking up to Eli, andresting one foot on the seat of his chair, "why don't you tell it over?and if we 're wrong, I 'm ready to join you. "

Eli looked up at him. 

"Did n't you ever know, " he said, "of a man's takin' a cat off, to lose, that his little girl did n't want drownded, and leavin' him ashore, twenty or thirty miles, bee-line, from home, and that cat's bein' backagain the next day, purrin' 'round 's if nothin' had happened?"

"Yes, " said Mr. Eldridge--"knew of just such a case. "

"Very well, " said Eli; "how does he find his way home?"

"Don't know, " said Mr. Eldridge; "always has been a standing mystery tome. "

"Well, " said Eli, "mark my words. There's such a thing as arguin', andthere 's such a thing as knowin' outright; and when you 'll tell mehow that cat inquires his way home, I '11 tell you how I know John Woodain't guilty. "

This made a certain sensation, and Eli's stock went up. 

An old, withered man rapped on the table. 

"That's so!" he said; "and there's other sing'lar things! How is it thata seafarin' man, that 's dyin' to home, will allers die on the ebbtide?It never fails, but how does it happen? Tell me that! And there's moreways than one of knowin' things, too!"

"I know that man ain't guilty, " said Eli. 

"Hark ye!" said a dark old man with a troubled face, rising and pointinghis finger toward Eli. "_Know_, you say? I _knew_, wunst. I _knew_ thatmy girl, my only child, was good. One night she went off with a marriedman that worked in my store, and stole my money--and where is she now?"And then he added, "What I _know_ is, that every man hes his price. Ihev mine, and you hev yourn!"

"'Xcuse me, Mr. Speaker, " said George Washington, rising with his handin his bosom; "as de question is befo' us, I wish to say that de las'bro' mus' have spoken under 'xcitement. Every man _don_' have his price!An' I hope de bro' will recant--like as de Psalmist goes out o' his wayto say '_In my haste_ I said, All men are liars. ' He was a verybusy man, de Psalmist--writin' down hymns all day, sharpen'n' hislead-pencil, bossin' 'roun' de choir--callin' Selah! Well, bro'n an'sisters "--both arms going out, and his voice going up--" one day, seems like, he was in gre't haste--got to finish a psalm for a monthlyconcert, or such--and some man in-corrupted him, and lied; and bein' ingre't haste--and a little old Adam in him--he says, right off, quick:'_All_ men are liars!' But see! When he gits a little time to set backand meditate, he says: 'Dis won' do--dere's Moses an' Job, an' Paul--deyain't liars!' An' den he don' sneak out, and 'low he said, 'All men islions, ' or such. No! de Psalmist ain't no such man; but he owns up, 'an'xplains. '_In my haste_, ' he says, 'I said it. '"

The foreman rose and rapped. 

"I await a motion, " said he, "if our friend will allow me the privilegeof speaking. "

Mr. Washington calmly bowed. 

Then the foreman, when nobody seemed disposed to move, speaking slowlyat first, and piecemeal, alternating language with smoke, graduallyedged into the current of the evidence, and ended by going all over itagain, with fresh force and point. His cigar glowed and chilled in thedarkening room as he talked. 

"Now, " he said, when he had drawn all the threads together to the pointof guilt, "what are we going to do upon this evidence?"

"I 'll tell you something, " said Eli. "I did n't want to say it becauseI know what you 'll all think, but I 'll tell you, all the same. "

"Ah!" said the foreman. 

Eli stood up and faced the others. 

"'Most all o' you know what our Bar is in a southeast gale. They ain't aman here that would dare to try and cross it when the sea's breakin' onit. The man that says he would, lies!" And he looked at the foreman, andwaited a moment. 

"When my wife took sick, and I stopped goin' to sea, two year ago, andtook up boat-fishin', I did n't know half as much about the coast as theyoung boys do, and one afternoon it was blowin' a gale, and we was allhands comin' in, and passin' along the Bar to go sheer 'round it to thewest'ard, and Captain Fred Cook--he's short-sighted--got on to the Barbefore he knew it, and then he hed to go ahead, whether or no; and I wasright after him, and I s'posed he knew, and I followed him. Well, he wasfloated over, as luck was, all right; but when I 'd just got on the Bar, a roller dropped back and let my bowsprit down into the sand, and thencome up quicker'n lightnin' and shouldered the boat over, t' other endfirst, and slung me into the water; and when I come up, I see somethin'black, and there was John Wood's boat runnin' by me before the wind witha rush--and 'fore I knew an'thing, he had me by the hair by one hand, and in his boat, and we was over the Bar. Now, I tell you, a man thatlooks the way I saw him look when I come over the gunwale, face up, don't go 'round breakin' in and hookin' things. He hed n't one chancein five, and he was a married man, too, with small children. And what'smore, " he added incautiously, "he did n't stop there. When he found out, this last spring, that I was goin' to lose my place, he lent me moneyenough to pay the interest that was overdue on the mortgage, of his ownaccord. "

And he stopped suddenly. 

"You have certainly explained yourself, " said the foreman. "I think weunderstand you distinctly. "

"There is n't one word of truth in that idea, " said Eli, flushing up, "and you know it. I 've paid him back every cent. I know him better 'nany of you, that's all, and when I know he ain't guilty, I won't say heis; and I can set here as long as any other man. "

"Lively times some folks 'll hev, when they go home, " said a sparetin-pedler, stroking his long yellow goatee. "Go into the store: nobodyspeak to you; go to cattle-show: everybody follow you 'round; go to thewharf: nobody weigh your fish; go to buy seed-cakes to the cart: bakerwon't give no tick. "

"How much does it cost, Mr. Foreman, " said the butcher, "for a man 't's obliged to leave town, to move a family out West? I only ask forinformation. I have known a case where a man had to leave--could n'tlive there no longer--wa' n't wanted. "

There was a knock. An officer, sent by the judge, inquired whether thejury were likely soon to agree. 

"It rests with you, sir, " said the foreman, looking at Eli. 

But Eli sat doggedly with his hands in his pockets, and did not look upor speak. 

"Say to the judge that I cannot tell, " said the foreman. 

It was eight o'clock when the officer returned, with orders to take thejury across the street to the hotel, to supper. They went out in pairs, except that the juryman who was left to fall in with Eli made threewith the file ahead, and left Eli to walk alone. This was noticed by thebystanders. At the hotel, Eli could not eat a mouthful. He was seatedat one end of the table, and was left entirely out of the conversation. When the jury were escorted back to the courthouse, rumors had evidentlybegun to arise from his having walked alone, for there was quite alittle crowd at the hotel door, to see them. They went as before: fourpairs, a file of three, and Eli alone. Then the spectators understoodit. 

When the jury were locked into their room again for the night, Mr. Eldridge sat down by Eli and lit his pipe. 

"I understand, " he said, "just how you feel. Now, between you and me, there was a good-hearted fellow that kept me out of a bad mess once. I've never told anybody just what it was, and I don't mean to tell younow, but it brought my blood up standing, to find how near I 'd come toputting a fine steamer and two hundred and forty passengers under water. Well, one day, a year or so after that, this man had a chance to get agood ship, only there was some talk against him, that he drank a little. Well, the owners told him they wanted to see me, and he come to me, andsays he, 'Mr. Eldridge, I hope you 'll speak a good word for me; ifyou do, I 'll get the ship, but if they refuse me this one, I 'm dishedeverywhere. ' Well, the owners put me the square question, and I had totell 'em. Well, I met him that afternoon on Sacramento Street, as whiteas a sheet, and he would n't speak to me, but passed right by, and thatnight he went and shipped before the mast. That's the last I ever heardof him; but I had to do it. Now, " he added, "this man 's been good toyou; but the case is proved, and you ought to vote with the rest of us. "

"It ain't proved, " said Eli. "The judge said that if any man had areasonable doubt, he ought to hold out. Now, I ain't convinced. "

"Well, that 's easy said, " replied Mr. Eldridge, a little hotly, and hearose, and left him. 

The jurymen broke up into little knots, tilted their chairs back, andsettled into the easiest positions that their cramped quarters allowed. Most of them lit their pipes; the captain, and one or two whom hehonored, smoked fragrant cigars, and the room was soon filled with adense cloud. 

Eli sat alone by the window. 

"Sometimes sell two at one house, " said a lank book-agent, arousinghimself from a reverie; "once sold three. "

"I think the Early Rose is about as profitable as any, " said a littlefarmer, with a large circular beard. "I used to favor Jacobs's Seedling, but they have n't done so well with me of late years. "

"Sometimes, " said the book-agent, picking his teeth with a quill, "you'll go to a house, and they 'll say they can't be induced to buy a bookof any kind, historical, fictitious, or religious; but you just keep ontalking, and show the pictures--'Grant in Boyhood, ' 'Grant a Tanner, 'Grant at Head-quarters, ' 'Grant in the White House, ' 'Grant before QueenVictoria, ' and they warm up, I tell you, and not infrequently buy. "

"Do you sell de 'Illustrated Bible', " asked Washington, "wid deHypocrypha?"

"No; I have a more popular treatise--the 'Illustrated History of theBible. ' Greater variety. Brings in the surrounding nations, in costume. Cloth, three dollars; sheep, three-fifty; half calf, five-seventy-five;full morocco, gilt edges, seven-fifty. Six hundred and sevenillustrations on wood and steel. Three different engravings of Abrahamalone. Four of Noah, --'Noah before the Flood, ' 'Noah Building theArk, ' 'Noah Welcoming the Dove, ' 'Noah on Ararat, ' Steel engraving ofEzekiel's Wheel, explaining prophecy. Jonah under the gourd, Nineveh inthe distance. "

Mr. Eldridge and Captain Thomas had drifted into a discussion ofharbors, and the captain had drawn his chair up to the table, and, witha cigar in his mouth, was explaining an ingeniously constructed foreignharbor. He was making a rough sketch, with a pen. 

"Here is north, " he said; "here is the coastline; here are the flats;here are the sluicegates; they store the water here, in--"

Some of the younger men had their heads together, in a corner, aboutthe tin-pedler, who was telling stories of people he had met in hisjourneys, which brought out repeated bursts of laughter. 

In the corner farthest from Eli, a delicate-looking man began to tellthe butcher about Eli's wife. 

"Twelve years ago this fall, " he said, "I taught district-school in theparish where she lived. She was about fourteen then. Her father wasa poor farmer, without any faculty. Her mother was dead, and she kepthouse. I stayed there one week, boarding 'round. "

"Prob'ly did n't git not much of any fresh meat that week, " suggestedthe butcher. 

"She never said much, but it used to divert me to see her order aroundher big brothers, just as if she was their mother. She and I got to begreat friends; but she was a queer piece. One day at school the girls inher row were communicating, and annoying me, while the third classwas reciting in 'First Steps in Numbers, ' and I was so incensed thatI called Lizzie--that's her name--right out, and had her stand up fortwenty minutes. She was a shy little thing, and set great store byperfect marks. I saw that she was troubled a good deal, to have all ofthem looking and laughing at her. But she stood there, with her handsfolded behind her, and not a smile or a word. "

"Look out for a sullen cow, " said the butcher. 

"I felt afraid I had been too hasty with her, and I was rather sorry Ihad been so decided--although, to be sure, she did n't pretend to denythat she had been communicating. "

"Of course, " said the butcher: "no use lyin' when you 're caught in theact. "

"Well, after school, she stayed at her desk, fixing her dinner-pail, andputting her books in a strap, and all that, till all the rest had gone, and then she came up to my desk, where I was correcting compositions. "

"Now for music!" said the butcher. 

"She had been crying a little. Well, she looked straight in my face, andsaid she, 'Mr. Pollard, I just wanted to say to you that I was n't doinganything at all when you called me up;' and off she went. Now, that wasjust like her, --too proud to say a word before the school. "

But here his listener's attention was diverted by the voice of thebook-agent. 

"The very best Bible for teachers, of course, is the limp-cover, protected edges, full Levant morocco, Oxford, silk-sewed, kid-lined, Bishop's Divinity Circuit, with concordance, maps of the Holy Land, weights, measures, and money-tables of the Jews. Nothing like having areally--"

"And so, " said the captain, moving back his chair, "they let on thewhole head of water, and scour out the channel to a T. "

And then he rapped upon the table. 

"Gentlemen, " he said, "please draw your chairs up, and let us takeanother ballot. "

The count resulted as before. 

The foreman muttered something which had a scriptural sound. In a fewmoments he drew Mr. Eldridge and two others aside. "Gentlemen, " hesaid to them, "I shall quietly divide the jury into watches, under yourcharge: ten can sleep, while one wakes to keep Mr. Smith discussing thequestion. I don't propose to have the night wasted. "

And, by one man or another, Eli was kept awake. 

"I don't see, " said the book-agent, "why you should feel obliged tostick it out any longer. Of course, you are under obligations. But you've done more than enough already, so as that he can't complain of you, and if you give in now, everybody 'll give you credit for trying to saveyour friend, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, for giving in tothe evidence. So you 'll get credit both ways. "

An hour later, the tin-pedler came on duty. He had not followed closelythe story about John Wood's loan, and had got it a little awry. 

"Now, how foolish you be, " he said, in a confidential tone. "Can'tyou see that if you cave in now, after stan'n' out nine hours"--andhe looked at a silver watch with a brass chain, and stroked hisgoatee--"nine hours and twenty-seven minutes--that you 've made jestrumpus enough so as't he won't dare to foreclose on you, for fear they'll say you went back on a trade. On t' other hand, if you hold clearout, he'll turn you out-o'-doors to-morrow, for a blind, so 's to lookas if there wa' n't no trade between you. Once he gits off, he won'tknow Joseph, you bet! That's what I 'd do, " he added, with a sly laugh. "Take your uncle's advice. "

"The only trouble with that, " said Eli, shortly, "is that I don't owehim anything. "

"Oh, " said the pedler; "that makes a difference. I understood you did. "

Three o'clock came, and brought Mr. El-dridge. He found Eli worn outwith excitement. 

"Now, I don't judge you the way the others do, " said Mr. Eldridge, in alow tone, with his hand on Eli's knee. "I know, as I told you, just theway you feel. But we can't help such things. Suppose, now, that I hadkept dark, and allowed to the owners that that man was always sober, and I had heard, six months after, of thirty or forty men going to thebottom because the captain was a little off his base; and then to thinkof their wives and children at home. We have to do some hard things; butI say, do the square thing, and let her slide. "

"But I can't believe he 's guilty, " said Eli. 

"But don't you allow, " said Mr. Eldridge, "that eleven men are more sureto hit it right than one man?"

"Yes, " said Eli, reluctantly, "as a general thing. "

"Well, there's always got to be some give to a jury, just as ineverything else, and you ought to lay right down on the rest of us. Itis n't as if we were at all squirmish. Now, you know that if you holdout, he 'll be tried again. "

"Yes, I suppose so. "

"Got to be--no other way, " said Mr. Eldridge. "Now, the next time, therewon't be anybody like you to stand out, and the judge 'll know of thisscrape, and he'll just sock it to him. "

Eli turned uneasily in his chair. 

"And then it won't be understood in your place, and folks 'll turnagainst you every way, and, what's worse, let you alone. "

"I can stand it, " said Eli, angrily. "Let 'em do as they like. Theycan't kill me. "

"They can kill your wife and break down your children, " said Mr. Eldridge. "Women and children can't stand it. Now, there's that man theywere speaking of; he lived down my way. He sued a poor, shiftless fellowthat had come from Pennsylvania to his daughter's funeral, and had himarrested and taken off, crying, just before the funeral begun--afterthey 'd even set the flowers on the coffin; and nobody'd speak to himafter that--they just let him alone; and after a while his wife tooksick of it--she was a nice, kindly woman--and she had sort of hysterics, and finally he moved off West. And 't was n't long before the womandied. Now, you can't undertake to do different from everybody else. "

"Well, " said Eli, "I know I wish it was done with. "

Mr. Eldridge stretched his arms and yawned. Then he began to walk up anddown, and hum, out of tune. Then he stopped at Captain Thomas's chair. 

"Suppose we try a ballot, " he said. "He seems to give a little. "

In a moment the foreman rapped. 

"It is time we were taking another ballot, gentlemen, " he said. 

The sleepers rose, grumbling, from uneasy dreams. 

"I will write 'guilty' on twelve ballots, " said the foreman, "and if anyone desires to write in 'not, ' of course he can. "

When the hat came to Eli, he took one of the ballots and held it in hishand a moment, and then he laid it on the table. There was a generalmurmur. The picture which Mr. El-dridge had drawn loomed up before him. But with a hasty hand he wrote in "not, " dropped in the ballot, andgoing back to his chair by the window, sat down. 

There was a cold wave of silence. 

Then Eli suddenly walked up to the foreman and faced him. 

"Now, " he said, "we 'll stop. The very next turn breaks ground. If you, or any other man that you set on, tries to talk to me when I don't wantto hear, to worry me to death--look out!"

How the long hours wore on! How easy, sometimes, to resist an openpressure, and how hard, with the resistance gone, to fight, as one thatbeats the air! How the prospect of a whole hostile town loomed up, ina mirage, before Eli! And then the picture rose before him of a long, stately bark, now building, whose owner had asked him yesterday to befirst mate. And if his wife were only well, and he were only free fromthis night's trouble, how soon, upon the long, green waves, he couldbegin to redeem his little home!

And then came Mr. Eldridge, kind and friendly, to have another littlechat. 

Morning came, cold and drizzly. An officer knocked at the door, andcalled out, "Breakfast!" And in a moment, unwashed, and all uncombed, except the tin-pedler, who always carried a beard-comb in his pocket, they were marched across the street to the hotel. 

There were a number of men on the piazza waiting to see them, --jurymen, witnesses, and the accused himself, for he was on bail. He had seen theprocession the night before, and, like the others, had read its meaning. 

"Eli knows I would n't do it, " he had said to himself, "and he's goingto hang out, sure. "

The jury began to turn from the court-house door. Everybody looked. Afile of two men, another file, another, another; would there come threemen, and then one? No; Eli no longer walked alone. 

Everybody looked at Wood; he turned sharply away. 

But this time the order of march in fact showed nothing, one way or theother. It only meant that the judge, who had happened to see the jurythe night before returning from their supper, had sent for the highsheriff in some temper, --for judges are human, --and had vigorouslyintimated that if that statesman did not look after his fool of adeputy, who let a jury parade secrets to the public view, he would!

The jury were in their room again. At nine o'clock came a rap, and asummons from the court. The prosecuting attorney was speaking with thejudge when they went in. In a moment he took his seat. 

"John Wood!" called out the clerk, and the defendant arose. His attorneywas not there. 

"Mr. Foreman!" said the judge, rising. The jury arose. The silence ofthe crowded courtroom was intense. 

"Before the clerk asks you for a verdict, gentlemen, " said the judge, "Ihave something of the first importance to say to you, which has but thismoment come to my knowledge. "

Eli changed color, and the whole court-room looked at him. 

"There were some most singular rumors, after the case was given to you, gentlemen, to the effect that there had been in this cause a criminalabuse of justice. It is painful to suspect, and shocking to know, that courts and juries are liable ever to suffer by such unprincipledpractices. After ten years upon the bench, I never witness a convictionof crime without pain; but that pain is light, compared with thedistress of knowing of a wilful perversion of justice. It is a reliefto me to be able to say to you that such instances are, in my judgment, exceedingly rare, and--so keen is the awful searching power oftruth--are almost invariably discovered. "

The foreman touched his neighbor with his elbow. Eli folded his arms. 

"As I said, " continued the judge, "there were most singular rumors. During the evening and the night, rumor, as is often the case, led toevidence, and evidence has led to confession and to certainty. And thedistrict attorney now desires me to say to you that the chief officer ofthe bank--who held the second key to the safe--is now under arrest for aheavy defalcation, which a sham robbery was to conceal, and that you mayfind the prisoner at the bar--not guilty. I congratulate you, gentlemen, that you had not rendered an adverse verdict. "

"Your Honor!" said Eli, and he cleared his throat, "I desire it to beknown that, even as the case stood last night, this jury had not agreedto convict, and never would have!"

There was a hush, while a loud scratching pen indorsed the record ofacquittal. Then Wood walked down to the jury-box and took Eli's hand. 

"Just what I told my wife all through, " he said. "I knew you 'd hangout!"

Eli's jury was excused for the rest the of day, and by noon he was inhis own village, relieved, too, of his most pressing burden: for GeorgeCahoon had met him on the road, and told him that he was not going tothe West, after all, for the present, and should not need his money. But, as he turned the bend of the road and neared his house, he felt arising fear that some disturbing rumor might have reached his wife abouthis action on the jury. And, to his distress and amazement, there shewas, sitting in a chair at the door. 

"Lizzie!" he said, "what does this mean? Are you crazy?"

"I'll tell you what it means, " she said, as she stood up with a littlesmile and clasped her hands behind her. "This morning it got around andcame to me that you was standing out all alone for John Wood, and thatthe talk was that they 'd be down on you, and drive you out of town, and that everybody pitied _me_, --_pitied me!_ And when I heard that, I thought I 'd see! And my strength seemed to come all back, and I gotright up and dressed myself. And what's more, I 'm going to get wellnow!"

And she did.