had lied and blocked and obfuscated in their statements to the court
concerning what had taken place. They had heard the sounds of the killing,
and, like Schemmer, they had run to the spot. They had got there before
Schemmer--that was all. True, Schemmer had testified that, attracted by
the sound of quarrelling as he chanced to pass by, he had stood for at
least five minutes outside; that then, when he entered, he found the
prisoners already inside; and that they had not entered just before,
because he had been standing by the one door to the barracks. But what of
that? Ah Cho and his four fellow-prisoners had testified that Schemmer was
mistaken. In the end they would be let go. They were all confident of
that. Five men could not have their heads cut off for two stab wounds.
Besides, no foreign devil had seen the killing. But these Frenchmen were
so stupid. In China, as Ah Cho well knew, the magistrate would order all
of them to the torture and learn the truth. The truth was very easy to
learn under torture. But these Frenchmen did not torture--bigger fools
they! Therefore they would never find out who killed Chung Ga.

But Ah Cho did not understand everything. The English Company that owned
the plantation had imported into Tahiti, at great expense, the five hundred
coolies. The stockholders were clamouring for dividends, and the Company
had not yet paid any; wherefore the Company did not want its costly
contract labourers to start the practice of killing one another. Also,
there were the French, eager and willing to impose upon the Chinagos the
virtues and excellences of French law. There was nothing like setting an
example once in a while; and, besides, of what use was New Caledonia except
to send men to live out their days in misery and pain in payment of the
penalty for being frail and human?

Ah Cho did not understand all this. He sat in the court room and waited
for the baffled judgment that would set him and his comrades free to go