it."

Then as if to atone for his rudeness, he caught the Sheriff roughly by
the arm and pulled him toward him:

"Aleck, how 's the case goin'? Is Mandy a goin' to win? Is that old
rascal rulin' right!"

The Sheriff urged something in a low voice, but Turkle would not be
silenced.

"Now you see thar," he broke out with a laugh to those about him, "did
n't I tell you Aleck wa' n 't nothin' but a' ol' drunkard? What d'
you s'pose the ol' rascal wants me to do? He wants me to go over there
to the bar and git drunk like 'im, and I ain't goin' to do it. I never
drink. I 've come here to see that my cousin Mandy's chil'ern gits
their patrimony, and I ain' a goin' to 'sociate with these here drunken
fellows like Aleck Thompson."

The Sheriff made a final effort. He spoke positively, but Turkle would
not heed.

"Oh, 'Judge' be damned! You and I know that ol' fellow loves a dram jest
's well 's the best of 'em--jest 's well 's you do. Look at his face.
You think he got that drinkin' well-water! Bet yer he 's got a bottle in
's pocket right now."

A titter ran through the crowd, but was suddenly stopped.

A quiet voice was heard from the other end of the court-room, and a
deathly silence fell on the assemblage.

"Suspend for a moment, gentlemen, if you please. Mr. Sheriff, bring that
person to the bar of the Court."

The crowd parted as if by magic, and the Sheriff led his drunken
constituent to the bar, where his befuddled brain took in just enough of
the situation to make him quiet enough. The Judge bent his sternest look
on him until he quailed.

"Have you no more sense of propriety than to disturb a court of justice
in the exercise of its high function?"

Turkle, however, was too drunk to understand this. He tried to steady
himself against the bar.

"I ain't is-turbed no Court of function, and anybody 't says so, Jedge,
iz a liar." He dragged his hand across his mouth and tried to look
around upon the crowd with an air of drunken triumph, but he staggered
and would have fallen had not the Sheriff caught and supported him.

The Judge's eyes had never left him.

"Mr. Sheriff, take this intoxicated creature and confine him in the
county gaol until the expiration of the term. The very existence of a
court of justice depends upon the observance of order. Order must be
preserved and the dignity of the Court maintained."

There was a stir--half of horror--throughout the court-room. Put a man
in that jail just f