186 DOGGED JACK.

formation, but if he suppressed them, or gave fictitious
names, no harm surely could come of it.
 To make all doubly secure he decided also on
 telling the story as if it had been told to him, and
 not as one that had come within his own actual
 experience.
 This, he flattered himself, was a very deep and
 cunning plan, and he felt not a little proud that he
 had concocted it entirely out of his own head.
 Jack chose one fine evening for a chat on the sub-
ject with Joe, who he knew would be then smoking
his pipe and leaning over the side of the vessel in
a meditative mood.
 Gently he touched the old sailor on the shoulder,
 and asked him if he could listen to him for awhile,
 and then give him his opinion on an important
 subject.
 "Tackle away, young 'un," was the reply, as the
old sailor blew a big cloud of smoke into the salt
breezes of the evening.
 "A friend of mine is anxious to know what is
the law for this case," began Jack, who appeased his
conscience with the reflection that Roger in truth
would be anxious to know if his surmise with regard
to the punishment of hanging was correct. "A
couple of boys once were going to ride to a picnic,
we'll call them Jones and Black, and there was