oozed slowly away in these headquarters of suffering, before a
military sergeant apprised us that he had been elevated to the dignity
of the long-robe, and appointed our counsel in the approaching trial.
No other lawyer was to be had in the colony for love or money, and,
perhaps, our military man might have acquitted himself as well as the
best, had not his superiors often imposed silence on him during the
argument.

By this time the nimble Aguila had made two most serviceable trips
under the French officers, and proved so valuable to the Gallic
government that no one dreamed of recovering her. The colonial
authorities had two alternatives under the circumstances,--either to
pay for or condemn her,--and as they knew I would not be willing to
take the craft again after the destruction of my voyage, the formality
of a trial was determined to legalize the condemnation. It was
necessary, however, even in Africa, to show that I had violated the
territory of the French colony by trading in slaves, and that the
Aguila had been caught in the act.

I will not attempt a description of the court scene, in which my
military friend was browbeaten by the prosecutor, the prosecutor by
the judge, and the judge by myself. After various outrages and
absurdities, a Mahometan _slave_ was allowed to be sworn as a witness
against me; whereupon I burst forth with a torrent of argument,
defence, abuse, and scorn, till a couple of soldiers were called to
keep my limbs and tongue in forensic order.

But the deed was done. The foregone conclusion was formally announced.
The Aguila de Oro became King Louis Philippe's property, while my men
were condemned to two, my officers to five, and Don Teodor himself, to
ten years' confinement in the central prisons of _la belle France_!

Such was the style of colonial justice in the reign of _le roi
bourgeois_!

My sentence aroused the indignation of many respectable merchants at
San Luis; and, of course, I did not lack kindly visits in the
stronghold to which I was reconducted. It was found to be entirely
useless to attack the sympathy of the tribunal, either to procure a
rehearing of the cause or mitigation of the judgment. Presently, a
generous friend introduced _a saw_ suitable to discuss the toughness
of iron bars, and hinted that on the night when my window gratings
were severed, a boat might be found waiting to transport me to the
opposite shore of the river, whence an independent chief would c