Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-01-20

| w Gil, eiS iollS dS
deal, but he had not been prepared for
this. Of legal ways he knew naught
(save such few details as he had CLEAN
ed in the course of getting himself be-
hind prison walls) and Sayernake had
not seen fit to warn him of this con-
| tingency
When they had agreed upon their
story, on shipboard, Savernake had
| thoroughly coached and rehearsed his
| pupil, but had carefully RETAINED from
/ saying that, if they carried out their
| projected coupe at the inquest, Mayn-
ard might be called upon to get up in
/ the witness-box and swear to his Sa-
tanic Majesty alone knew how many
| false oaths
/ 1t was one thing to be an actor, to
mind and tact, and use ones bump of
observation to the very best advantage;
to act a lie, with smile, shrug or the
| shoulders, repartee or an evasion.
1t was quite another thing to blurt
out ones falsehoods in so many plain,
uncompromising words, swearing to
the truth of every one of them as they
| left ones hips, give no license to
evade or whip the devil" round
stiff poster so.
| Perhaps Savernake had known all
along what his protege would be call
ed upon to do, yet discretely had kept
silence. The veteran campaigner had
more than once had cause to see his
new acquisition was not precisely a
puppet whose strings could be pulled
at WILL and it had very possibly oc-
CURED to him that though Maynard
did not stick at trifes he might in
cline to draw the line at false oaths.
| If so, Savernake would doubtless have
| told himself, sudden necessity would
be the only sure driver, and that Jack,
having burnt his ships behind him,
had better be taken unawares.
The young man realized this, as he
stood in the box, and he resented it.
| Yet there was a certain humour in the
to feel it, He was like baited bear,
| but if these people were going to have
sport with him, he would have a lit
| tie of the same with them. Savernake
had eagerly promised to take all the
dirty work off his hands" yet here
| he was. with the prosp ect Of wading UP
| to his ears in mud and nobody to help
| him out of it. At all events, then,
he must make a portion of it fly
| about
So closely had he identified himself
with the story Savernake had invented
and put into his mouth that he was
almost ready at times to believe him
self in reality the Duke of Leicester
| But now that he must be alertly ready
| to vouch for every detail that he knew,
and perhaps good many that he
didn't, the play in which he had light
ly engaged became labour He felt
somewhat as an actor must feel who
makes his first appearance on the stage.
He had got his cue; could he not only
speak, but deliver well. his lines?
Deity he kissed his thumb when the
Testament was given him. This was
post" for the devil to run behind.
with a vengeance, But then it was a
post which afforded a certain. if super
fetal, moral support
| Somehow he got through the Dukes
names. There were a round half-dozen
| of them. and he cursed the other mans
sponsors in baptism, as he desperately
| strove for the proper sequence with his
tongue
He had good deal to think of. He
| had to remember to be English to
keep up the ducal drawl. to forget that
| in moments of past excitement he had
| occasionally MADE use or extremely
! forcible cowboy jargon. He had to
hold his mind upon every trifing de-
tail OF his story. and at the same time
never lose sight of the fact that his
adversaries would silly be laying pit
falls for him.
Fire away" he had almost said, as
the coroner appeared to hesitate over
his first question. But he checked
himself in time. waiting in an attitude
of creditable dignity. his arms folded
across his chest This position served
two purposes 1t lent certain statu-
esQueness worthy of the occasion. and
it prevented anyone from seeing the