DISCOMFITURE OF CYRUS 223 



as my request was reasonable and proper. I was 

 held in bail of five hundred dollars, although 

 the attorney, urged on by old Cyrus, asked for 

 five thousand, and hurried home to explain 

 matters. 



My first anxiety was to secure the cow from 

 examination, as I did not want the prosecution 

 to find out the truth and spoil the fun. I found 

 that one or two had called to see the cow, but that 

 Dick had kept the barn locked. 



The week I spent before the trial was one of 

 the queerest and most amusing, and at times un- 

 comfortable, I had ever spent in my life. The 

 papers devoted a good deal of space to me, and 

 evidently considered me a rather hopeless case. 

 Indeed, to judge from the talk of my fellow citi- 

 zens, I had been a whited sepulchre, a wolf in 

 sheep's clothing and several other objectionable 

 things, for a long time. Much to my pleasure, my 

 neighbors, to a man, stood by me. I suppose they 

 considered that of two evils, I, as the newest 

 comer, could not be as bad as old Cyrus, or one 

 tenth as bad as he painted me. 



The day before the trial my wife was, to 

 her intense indignation, summoned as a witness 

 by the prosecution. Although as my wife she 

 could not be compelled to testify against me, I 

 persuaded her to waive her rights and to testify, 

 telling her how great a compliment they paid her 



