t to me--'"

Mocket moved with care along the ledge until he had brought within his
view another portion of the Hall. "That look of his isn't fixed on
nothing! Now we'll see." He stood on tiptoe, craned his neck, and
surveyed the crowded floor. "Humph!" he remarked at last. "I might have
known without looking. If I were Ludwell Cary--"

The counsel for the prisoner and the prisoner himself were subjecting
the witness to a riddling fire of cross-questions. Mocket, on his coign
of vantage, was caught again by the more apparent drama, and looked and
listened greedily. Eaton at last retired, much damaged, and Commodore
Truxtun was sworn. This was a man of different calibre, and from side to
side of the long room occurred a subtle intensification of respect,
interest, and attention. On went the examination, this time favourable,
on the whole, to Burr. "The prisoner frequently, in conversation with
me, mentioned the subject of speculations in western lands, opening a
canal and building a bridge. Colonel Burr also said to me that the
government was weak, and that he wished me to get the navy of the United
States out of my head; that it would dwindle to nothing; and that he had
something to propose to me that was both honourable and profitable; but
I considered this nothing more than an interest in his land
speculations--"

The August heat was maddening. Now and then a puff of wind entered from
the parched out-of-doors, but it hardly refreshed. The flutter of the
women's fans in the gallery made a far away and ineffectual sound. "All
his conversations respecting military and naval subjects and the Mexican
expedition," went on Truxtun's voice, "were in event of a war with
Spain. I told him my opinion was, there would be no war, but he was
sanguine of it. He said that after the Mexican expedition he intended to
provide a formidable navy; that he meant to establish an independent
government and give liberty to an enslaved world. I declined his
propositions to me because the President was not privy to the project.
He asked me the best mode of attacking the Havana, Carthagena, and La
Vera Cruz--"

The day wore on. Truxtun was released, and the Attorney for the United
States called Blennerhassett's servants to prove the array at the island
and the embarkment upon the Ohio. They did their best with a deal of
verbiage, of "Colonel Burr said" and "Mr. Blennerhassett said," and with
no little bewilderment under cross-examination. "Ye