r actions?' Jeffreys answered,
in a menacing voice. 'See that you are not too zealous in the cause
of the scum of the earth. How now, then? What do these one and fifty
villains desire to say for themselves? What is their lie? Gentlemen of
the jury, I beg that ye will take particular notice of the cut-throat
faces of these men. 'Tis well that Colonel Kirke hath afforded the Court
a sufficient guard, for neither justice nor the Church is safe at their
hands.'

'Forty of them desire to plead guilty to the charge of taking up arms
against the King,' replied our barrister.

'Ah!' roared the Judge. 'Was ever such unparalleled impudence? Was there
ever such brazen effrontery? Guilty, quotha! Have they expressed their
repentance for this sin against a most kind and long-suffering monarch!
Put down those words on the record, clerk!'

'They have refused to express repentance, your Lordship!' replied the
counsel for the defence.

'Oh, the parricides! Oh, the shameless rogues!' cried the Judge. 'Put
the forty together on this side of the enclosure. Oh, gentlemen, have ye
ever seen such a concentration of vice? See how baseness and wickedness
can stand with head erect! Oh, hardened monsters! But the other eleven.
How can they expect us to believe this transparent falsehood--this
palpable device? How can they foist it upon the Court?'

'My Lord, their defence hath not yet been advanced!' stammered Master
Helstrop.

'I can sniff a lie before it is uttered,' roared the Judge, by no means
abashed. 'I can read it as quick as ye can think it. Come, come, the
Court's time is precious. Put forward a defence, or seat yourself, and
let judgment be passed.'

'These men, my Lord,' said the counsel, who was trembling until the
parchment rattled in his hand. 'These eleven men, my Lord--'

'Eleven devils, my Lord,' interrupted Jeffreys.

'They are innocent peasants, my Lord, who love God and the King, and
have in no wise mingled themselves in this recent business. They have
been dragged from their homes, my Lord, not because there was suspicion
against them, but because they could not satisfy the greed of certain
common soldiers who were balked of plunder in--'

'Oh, shame, shame!' cried Jeffreys, in a voice of thunder. 'Oh,
threefold shame, Master Helstrop! Are you not content with bolstering
up rebels, but you must go out of your way to slander the King's troops?
What is this world coming to? What, in a word, is the defence of these