Had ever such a farce been enacted in the course of justice! He tossed
away the paper and swore softly. Of course, the only thing that had
rendered such a situation possible at all was the fact that the aged
Farlan was a superlative old ass. To hear him tell his yarn on the
stand, you would have thought that it gave him positive pain to testify
against a fellow being. Did you ever see such white hair and such a big
white beard? Why, he looked like Dowie or Moses, or some of those
fellows. When Jim had tripped him up and slipped off the ring, the old
chap had already swallowed half a dozen "County Antrims," and wasn't in
a condition to remember anything or anybody. The idea of his going so
piously into court and swearing the thing on to Monohan; it gave you the
creeps! A fellow might go to "the chair" as easy as not, in just the
same way. Of course, Jim had not intended to get the young greenhorn
into any trouble when he had sold him the pawn-ticket. He had been just
an easy mark. And when the police had arrested him and found the ticket
in his pocket, there was not any call for Jim to set them straight. That
was just Monohan's luck, curse him! Let him look out for himself.