Page:Carroll - Rhyme and Reason.djvu/187

Rh So the Snark found the verdict, although, as it owned,
 * It was spent with the toils of the day:

When it said the word "GUILTY!" the Jury all groaned
 * And some of them fainted away.

Then the Snark pronounced sentence, the Judge being quite
 * Too nervous to utter a word:

When it rose to its feet, there was silence like night,
 * And the fall of a pin might be heard.

"Transportation for life" was the sentence it gave,
 * "And then to be fined forty pound."

The Jury all cheered, though the Judge said he feared
 * That the phrase was not legally sound.

But their wild exultation was suddenly checked
 * When the jailer informed them, with tears,

Such a sentence would have not the slightest effect,
 * As the pig had been dead for some years.

The Judge left the Court, looking deeply disgusted:
 * But the Snark, though a little aghast,