he
innocence of the prisoners, or, at least, the veniality of their
offence, if guilty, and the unreasonable disproportion between the crime
and the punishment; wearied by the perseverance of the petitioner, and
convinced, though unwilling to own it, by his arguments;--convinced,
too, that he was making a very ridiculous figure in the eyes of his
officers and several merchants who were present, he did, as all
obstinate and pig-headed people do when they find themselves in the
wrong, and see that they are making themselves contemptible: that is, he
plunged still deeper into the wrong, by giving the good old seaman a
harsh refusal to his prayer.

At this unexpected and ungentlemanly rebuff, Captain Williams suddenly
became calm and silent, and, a moment after, left the office. Those who
were present thought they saw in the stern, determined expression of his
countenance grounds for apprehension and alarm; having the most
extravagant opinion of the desperate and daring courage of the
Americans, they looked to see the ensuing night signalized by some
desperate attempt on the part of the seaman, to release his companions
from imprisonment. Their apprehensions were confirmed in a space of time
that seemed impossible to have enabled Captain Williams to reach his
ship, by seeing the Albatross, under jib and spanker, slowly standing to
the westward, and again anchoring full half a mile farther out to sea
than before; not, to be sure, out of reach of the guns of the battery,
but at such a distance as to render it extremely problematical whether
_Spanish_ artillerymen would be able to throw a shot within half a mile
of her, especially in a star-light night.

This movement of the ship alarmed the governor not a little; for he knew
that the guarda-costa was absent on a cruize, and it was doubtful when
she would return, and that there were but thirty soldiers on duty at the
barracks, the rest having recently been drafted into the interior, to
wage war against certain straggling, light-fingered gentry, known in
that part of the world by the general title of "monteneros," or
highlanders, being analogous in their habits and manners, and confused
ideas of _meum_ and _tuum_, to the highland cattle-stealers of Scotland.
In this dilemma, the governor's heart began to relent--he thought that
he was carrying his severity too far.

On retiring to his house to dinner, he was met by a message from his
niece, requesting to see him in her chamb