ssian port."

"Could you not have guessed that as soon as your escape was known,
orders would be given immediately, to watch the coast and especially
all vessels."

"Yes, we expected that, but in the course of time our enterprise might
have succeeded when we least expected it."

"But," continued the governor, "you saw in your former journeys, that
the land was covered with mountains, among which it is very difficult
to travel, and that along the coast lie numberless villages, which
would render escape almost impossible. Your undertaking was
thoughtless and childish."

"And yet," replied I, "for six nights we wandered along the shore, and
through these villages, without being discovered by any one. At any
rate, we would leave no plan untried, let it be as thoughtless, or
even desperate as it may, to escape from our miserable lot, and as we
had an eternal imprisonment hovering over us, we determined either to
reach our homes, or find a grave among the mountains or beneath the
waves."

"Why was it necessary to go into the woods or on the sea in order to
die, when you could do it very easily here?"

"That would have been suicide, but if we venture our lives to win our
freedom, we could rely on the aid of God, and perhaps gain our end."

"Had you succeeded, what would you have said in Russia, concerning the
Japanese?"

"All that we have heard or seen, without adding or concealing any
thing."

"Do not you know that if you had escaped, the governor, and several
other officers would have lost their lives in consequence."

"We could well imagine that the guards would not have escaped
punishment, as that is customary in Europe, but we were not aware that
the Japanese laws were so cruel as to condemn innocent persons to
death."

"Is there a law in Europe which allows a prisoner to escape?"

"There is certainly no written law, but if he has not pledged his word
of honor, it is allowable for him to seize on any favorable
opportunity for flight."

With this equivocal explanation, the examination ended, and the
Governor now made a long speech, in which he said: If we were
Japanese, and had secretly left our prison, the consequences for us
would have been very serious; but as we were foreigners, and not
acquainted with the Japanese laws, and had, moreover, no object in
view which was injurious to the Japanese, but were influenced solely
by a desire to see again our native land, which is dearest to every
man; therefor