by Tom Bevan
Chapter XLIV.
THE TRIAL.
No bonds had been placed upon the limbs of the Englishmen since the daywhen the Spanish captain had taken them out of the hands of Basil.They walked unfettered to the judgment hall, and stood without shacklesbefore their judges. The court was crowded; it was not every day thata band of terrible fire-eating Englishmen was on view in Panama.Rumour spoke of them as friends and companions of Drake, and Spaniardsand Indians alike were eager to gaze upon the prisoners. The governorwas chief judge; beside him, on the one hand sat the deputy-governor,and on the other was placed the chief ecclesiastical dignitary of thecolony. Basil stood by the cleric's side. Johnnie caught sight ofhim, and stared him almost out of countenance. He had not seen him onthe day of his capture in the forest, but had caught glimpses of him onthe march. Recollections struggled in his mind. Where had he seen thefellow before? Nick Johnson, too, felt that he had seen or heard of adark-eyed, sallow-faced fellow who resembled the man in court.
The proceedings opened, and the civil authorities formally charged theprisoners with piracy and invasion of the territory of King Philip ofSpain. The bishop instantly opposed, and claimed to have the chargeamended to one of heresy and murderous opposition to the Church. Thegovernor asked for evidence in support of his claim. A nod to Basil,and the latter began a speech for the prosecution. Master Jeffreysstopped him by an appeal to the governor.
"May it please your excellency," he said, "my comrades have noknowledge of Spanish, and I have but little. I am persuaded that yourexcellency, as a soldier and a gentleman of honour, is anxious to giveus a fair trial. There is peace between our Queen and King Philip;there should at least be justice and fair-dealing betwixt you and us.Mine ears tell me that yonder man is more accustomed to speak my tonguethan yours; his Spanish hath the same rough English smack about it ashath mine own. I pray you that he may say to us in English what hesaith to you in the language of Spain."
Basil reddened and turned to his superior; but the governor, thoughindolent and capricious, was a man of some honour and chivalry. Hetold the accuser to speak alternately in the language of the court andthat of the prisoners.
Very few sentences in English were necessary to enlighten Johnnie as toBasil's identity. He could now see the spiteful face that confrontedhim on a memorable morning in the shades of Dean Forest. He listenedintently. The harangue was long and tedious, and endeavoured to provethat the tallest prisoner was a contumacious heretic, who had foughtagainst the Holy Church, frustrated her lawful efforts at theconversion of England, and had slain two noble and saintly missionariesand servants of King Philip--to wit, a certain Jesuit father, Jerome,and a monk named John. The prisoner had also repeatedly attempted thelife of the speaker. As for the others, one at least had attempted thespeaker's life in Plymouth, well knowing who and what he was; and allthe others were aiders and abettors.
Johnnie heard, and asked if he had the right of reply.
"Most certainly," said the governor. "This is a court of law, and itis our boast and pride that we give justice without fear or favour."
Whereupon Morgan, with Jeffreys as interpreter, gave his version of theincidents in the forest. A plot, to which no king could have been aparty, was set afoot by his accuser and others to destroy a forest overwhich he (Morgan) was a duly appointed guardian. He fought theconspirators by way of simple duty to his trust. Could he do less andhold up his head amongst honourable men? His accuser and hisconfederates had basely attempted to assassinate two nobleEnglishmen--to wit, Admiral Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh, a closefriend and counsellor of England's Queen. He asked whether Spainfought with the weapons of assassins, and whether King Philip, as aChristian and friendly monarch, could be a party to any such dastardlyconduct. The governor was a gentleman of honour, and could answer forhis sovereign.
The governor promptly denied that "His Most Catholic Majesty" couldever countenance such deeds. Johnnie bowed and thanked him, andresumed his defence. He dealt with the questions of piracy andinvasion of Spanish dominions. England and Spain were, he declared, atpeace, and no official could deny an Englishman the right to travelpeaceably in Spanish dominions, unless a law expressly excluded them.Any Spaniard, so long as he did nothing to harm the Queen or thegovernment, might travel in England, and claim the protection of itslaws as a peaceful sojourner in the land. Surely the Spaniards werenot going to be outdone in matters of international courtesy. Asregards the New World, the Englishman contended that it was open toexplorers and colonizers of all Christian nations, and Spain could notclaim it as her own unless she also occupied it.
The governor heard Morgan patiently, and hearkened to Master Jeffreyswhilst he expounded his ideas of the rights of England in the NewWorld. Then his excellency summed up the case. He ruled that the twogentlemen adventurers were not prisoners of the Holy Office, but of hisMajesty. The charges against them were those of piracy and invasion.They had certainly been captured on Spanish soil in the act ofappropriating--or endeavouring to appropriate--treasures that belongedto Spain. Moreover, they were companions of a Captain Drake, who, withhis brother, the admiral, had been guilty of repeated and grosspiracies on the high seas. Their guilt was fully established, and bylaw they ought to be taken down to the harbour and hanged in chains, asa warning to others. Mercy, however, should be shown them; their liveswould be spared, but they must serve ten years in the galleys. A hintwas given, after a whispered consultation with the bishop, thatrenunciation of their Protestant heresies would bring about a materiallightening of their sentences.
The five seamen were next put on trial. Basil promptly claimed theJohnsons as fugitives from the Inquisition. The cropped ears and lostthumbs were convincing evidence against them, and they were handed overto the Church, to be dealt with according to the law ecclesiastical.An attempt to claim the other three sailors failed. The governor wouldnot quit his hold on them. His own galley was sadly undermanned, andhe could not let three stout and skilled oarsmen slip through hisfingers. He looked longingly upon the two crop-eared fellows, andbegrudged the Church the possession of them. But he remembered with asigh that there must be give and take in this world, and five out ofseven was not a bad proportion.
The court broke up. The five galley-slaves were taken back to theircell for that night. Nick and Ned were walked away in charge of thejailers of the Inquisition. Their ultimate fate was to be decided thenext day.
