The witness now produced the sharp wooden needle, the stem of the leaf
of the coucourite palm, which he had found among Johnson's tattooing
materials, in the upper chamber of the _Hit or Miss_. This needle had
been, he said, the tip of one of the arrows used for their blowpipes, by
the Macoushi of Guiana.

Barton also produced the Oriental silver cigarette-case, the instrument
of his cheating at baccarat, which Cranley had left in the club on the
evening of his detection. He showed that the case had contained a small
crystal receptacle, intended to hold opium. This crystal had been broken
by Cranley when he dashed down the case, in the office of Martin and
Wright. But crumbs of the poison--"Woorali," or "Ourali"--perfectly dry,
remained in this receptacle. It was thus clear that Cranley, himself a
great traveller, was possessed of the rare and perilous drug.

The medical evidence having been heard, and confirmed in its general
bearing by various experts, and Barton having stood the test of a severe
cross-examination, William Winter was called.

There was a flutter in the Court, as a pale and partly paralyzed man was
borne in on a kind of litter, and accommodated in the witness-box.

"Where were you," asked the counsel for the prosecution, when the
officer had sworn the witness, "at eleven o'clock on the night of
February 7th?"

"I was on the roof of the _Hit or Miss_ tavern."

"On which part of the roof?"

"On the ledge below the dormer window at the back part of the house,
facing the waste ground behind the plank fence."

"Will you tell the Court what you saw while you were in that position?"

Winter's face was flushed with excitement; but his voice, though thin,
was clear as he said:

"There was a light streaming through the dormer window beside which I
was lying, and I looked in."

"What did you see?"

"I saw a small room, with a large fire, a table, on which were bottles
and glasses, and two men, one seated, the other standing."

"Would you recognize either man if you saw him?"

"I recognize the man who was seated, in the prisoner at the bar; but at
that time he wore a beard."

"Tell the Court what happened."

"The men were facing me. One of them--the prisoner--was naked to the
waist. His breast was tattooed. The other--the man who stood up--was
touching him with a needle, which he applied, again and again, to a
saucer on the table."

"Could you hear what they said?"

"I could; for the catc