his head amongst honourable men? His accuser and his
confederates had basely attempted to assassinate two noble
Englishmen--to wit, Admiral Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh, a close
friend and counsellor of England's Queen. He asked whether Spain
fought with the weapons of assassins, and whether King Philip, as a
Christian and friendly monarch, could be a party to any such dastardly
conduct. The governor was a gentleman of honour, and could answer for
his sovereign.

The governor promptly denied that "His Most Catholic Majesty" could
ever countenance such deeds. Johnnie bowed and thanked him, and
resumed his defence. He dealt with the questions of piracy and
invasion of Spanish dominions. England and Spain were, he declared, at
peace, and no official could deny an Englishman the right to travel
peaceably in Spanish dominions, unless a law expressly excluded them.
Any Spaniard, so long as he did nothing to harm the Queen or the
government, might travel in England, and claim the protection of its
laws as a peaceful sojourner in the land. Surely the Spaniards were
not going to be outdone in matters of international courtesy. As
regards the New World, the Englishman contended that it was open to
explorers and colonizers of all Christian nations, and Spain could not
claim it as her own unless she also occupied it.

The governor heard Morgan patiently, and hearkened to Master Jeffreys
whilst he expounded his ideas of the rights of England in the New
World. Then his excellency summed up the case. He ruled that the two
gentlemen adventurers were not prisoners of the Holy Office, but of his
Majesty. The charges against them were those of piracy and invasion.
They had certainly been captured on Spanish soil in the act of
appropriating--or endeavouring to appropriate--treasures that belonged
to Spain. Moreover, they were companions of a Captain Drake, who, with
his brother, the admiral, had been guilty of repeated and gross
piracies on the high seas. Their guilt was fully established, and by
law they ought to be taken down to the harbour and hanged in chains, as
a warning to others. Mercy, however, should be shown them; their lives
would be spared, but they must serve ten years in the galleys. A hint
was given, after a whispered consultation with the bishop, that
renunciation of their Protestant heresies would bring about a material
lightening of their sentences.

The five seamen were next put on trial. Basil prompt