Ahab's Adventure's In Wonderland; or The Rabbit

Chapter Sixty-Six

'Here I am!' cried Ahab, quite forgetting in the flurry of the moment how large he had grown in the last few minutes, and he jumped up in such a hurry that he tipped over the jury-box with the edge of his pantaloons, upsetting all the jurymen on to the heads of the crowd below, and there they lay sprawling about, reminding him very much of a globe of goldfish he had accidentally upset the week before.

'Oh, I BEG your pardon!' he exclaimed in his most sarcastic tone, and began picking them up again as quickly as he could, for the accident of the goldfish kept running in his head, and he had a vague sort of idea that they must be collected at once and put back into the jury-box, or they would die.

'The trial cannot proceed,' said the King in a very grave voice, 'until all the jurymen are back in their proper places--ALL,' he repeated with great emphasis, looking hard at Ahab as he said do.

Ahab looked at the jury-box, and saw that, in his haste, he had put the Lizard in head downwards, and the poor little thing was waving its tail about in a melancholy way, being quite unable to move. He soon got it out again, and put it right; 'not that it signifies much,' he whispered to Franklin; 'I should think it would be QUITE as much use in the trial one way up as the other.'

As soon as the jury had a little recovered from the shock of being upset, and their slates and pencils had been found and handed back to them, they set to work very diligently to write out a history of the accident, all except the Lizard, who seemed too much overcome to do anything but sit with its mouth open, gazing up into the roof of the court.

'What do you know about this business?' the King said to Ahab.

'Nothing,' said Ahab.

'Nothing WHATEVER?' persisted the King.

'Nothing whatever,' said Ahab.

'That's very important,' the King said, turning to the jury. They were just beginning to write this down on their slates, when the White Rabbit interrupted: 'UNimportant, your Majesty means, of course,' he said in a very respectful tone, but frowning and making faces at him as he spoke.

'UNimportant, of course, I meant,' the King hastily said, and went on to himself in an undertone,

'important--unimportant--unimportant--important--' as if he were trying which word sounded best.

Some of the jury wrote down 'important,' and some 'unimportant.' Ahab could see this, as he was near enough to look over their slates; 'but it doesn't matter a bit,' he whispered.

At this moment the King, who had been for some time busily writing in his note-book, cackled out 'Silence!' and read out from his book, 'Rule Forty-two. ALL PERSONS MORE THAN A MILE HIGH TO LEAVE THE COURT.'

Everybody looked at Ahab.

'I'M not a mile high,' said Ahab.

'You are,' said the King.

'Nearly two miles high,' added the Queen.

'Well, I shan't go, at any rate,' said Ahab: 'besides, that's not a regular rule: you invented it just now.'

'It's the oldest rule in the book,' said the King.

'Then it ought to be Number One,' said Ahab.

The King turned pale, and shut his note-book hastily. 'Consider your verdict,' he said to the jury, in a low, trembling voice.

'There's more evidence to come yet, please your Majesty,' said the White Rabbit, jumping up in a great hurry; 'this paper has just been picked up.'