If he has been treated as he says, it has been one of the most
abominable..."

Old Lord Stowell said, "Ch't, ch't, Mr. Walker; you know you must not
make a speech for the prisoner. Call your witness. It is all that is
needed."

I wondered what he meant by that. The barrister was calling a man of the
name of Williams. I seemed to know the name. I seemed to know the man,
too.

"Owen Williams, Master of the ship _Lion_.... Coffee and dye-wood....
Just come in under a jury-rig. Had been dismasted and afterwards
becalmed. Heard of this trial from the pilot in Graves-end. Had taken
post-chaises..."

I only heard snatches of his answers.

"On the twenty-fifth of August last I was close in with the Cuban
coast.... The mate, Sebright, got boiling water for them.... Afterwards
a heavy fog. They boarded us in many boats...." He was giving all the
old evidence over again, fastening another stone around my neck. But
suddenly he said: "This gentleman came alongside in a leaky dinghy. A
dead shot. He saved all our lives."

His bullet-head, the stare of his round blue eyes seemed to draw me out
of a delirium. I called out:

"Williams, for God's sake, Williams, where is Seraphina? Did she come
with you?" There was an immense roaring in my head, and the ushers were
shouting, "Silence! Silence!" I called out again.

Williams was smiling idiotically; then he shook his head and put his
finger to his mouth to warn me to keep silence. I only noted the shake
of the head. Sera-phina had not come. The Havana people must have taken
her. It was all over with me. The roaring noise made me think that I
was on a beach by the sea, with the smugglers, perhaps, at night down
in Kent. The silence that fell upon the court was like the silence of a
grave. Then someone began to speak in measured, portentous Spanish, that
seemed a memory of the past.

"I, the ambassador of his Catholic Majesty, being here upon my honour
and on my oath, demand the re-surrender of this gentleman, whose
courage equals his innocence. Documents which have just reached my hands
establish clearly the mistake of which he is the victim. The functionary
who is called _Alcayde_ of the _carcel_ at Havana confused the men.
Nikola el Escoces escaped, having murdered the judge whose place it was
to identify. I demand that the prisoner be set at liberty..."

A long time after a harsh voice said:

"Your Excellency, we retire, of course, from the prosecution."

A different one