You seemed greatly interested in
it; you read in it while I was testifying. May I see
it? The public would like--'
'The book will cut no figure in this matter,' re-
plied the official, slipping it into his coat pocket;
'all the entries in it were made before the writer's
death.'
As Harker passed out of the house the jury re-
entered and stood about the table, on which the now
covered corpse showed under the sheet with sharp
definition. The foreman seated himself near the can-
dle, produced from his breast pocket a pencil and
scrap of paper and wrote rather laboriously the
following verdict, which with various degrees of
effort all signed:
'We, the jury, do find that the remains come to
their death at the hands of a mountain lion, but
some of us thinks, all the same, they had fits.'
4: An Explanation from the Tomb
In the diary of the late Hugh Morgan are certain
interesting entries having, possibly, a scientific value
as suggestions. At the inquest upon his body the
book was not put in evidence; possibly the coroner
thought it not worth while to confuse the jury. The
date of the first of the entries mentioned cannot be
ascertained; the upper part of the leaf is torn away;
the part of the entry remaining follows:
'. . . would run in a half-circle, keeping his head
turned always toward the centre, and again he would
stand still, barking furiously. At last he ran away
into the brush as fast as he could go.
Pages:
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217