f the ship, on which the names of the
two sailors, Johnnie Butt and Bill Jones, duly appeared.

This closed the plaintiff's case, and the Attorney-General at once
proceeded to call his witnesses, reserving his remarks till the
conclusion of the evidence. He had only two witnesses, Mr. Todd, the
lawyer who drew and attested the will of Nov. 10, and his clerk, who also
attested it, and their examination did not take long. In
cross-examination, however, both these witnesses admitted that the
testator was in a great state of passion when he executed the will, and
gave details of the lively scene that then occurred.

Then the Attorney-General rose to address the Court for the defendants.
He said there were two questions before the Court, reserving, for the
present, the question as to the admissibility of the evidence of Augusta
Smithers; and those were--first, did the tattoo marks upon the lady's
neck constitute a will at all? and secondly, supposing that they did, was
it proved to the satisfaction of the Court that these undated marks were
duly executed by a sane and uninfluenced man, in the presence of the
witnesses, as required by the statute. He maintained, in the first place,
that these marks were no will within the meaning of the statute; but,
feeling that he was not on very sound ground on this point, quickly
passed on to the other aspects of the case. With much force and ability
he dwelt upon the strangeness of the whole story, and how it rested
solely upon the evidence of one witness, Augusta Smithers. It was only if
the Court accepted her evidence as it stood that it could come to the
conclusion that the will was executed at all, or, indeed, that the two
attesting witnesses were on the island at all. Considering the relations
which existed between this witness and the plaintiff, was the Court
prepared to accept her evidence in this unreserved way? Was it prepared
to decide that this will, in favour of a man with whom the testator had
violently quarrelled, and had disinherited in consequence of that
quarrel, was not, if indeed it was executed at all, extorted by this lady
from a weak and dying, and possibly a deranged, man? and with this
question the learned gentleman sat down.

He was followed briefly by the Solicitor-General and Mr. Fiddlestick; but
though they talked fluently enough, addressing themselves to various
minor points, they had nothing fresh of interest to adduce, and
finishing at half-past three, Ja