to
bring about international complications he couldn't have had a prouder
bearing. And he wasn't even pale. He looked just brown and calm and
natural. I had to confess to when you asked me a point-blank question
that night in the park, that I was all muddled up in my mind about his
conduct in ordering the gunfire. I didn't know whether he'd gone off his
chump, or been fooled, or what. But I can tell you one thing: I felt
proud of him as a man and as my superior officer when I saw the way he
bore himself for his trial. I don't know now the rights of the matter
any more than I did then, in spite of the court's findings; but
something tells me--as girls say--that March _wasn't to blame_. There's
a black mystery in this, and I don't see how it's ever going to be
cleared up, as things are. But to go back to the court-martial.

"March was accused by the prosecutor of having fired without orders
three charges from field guns into a country living at peace with the
United States, to the detriment of its inhabitants and property, and to
the imminent peril of disturbing international relations. He could have
objected legally to any of the judges and stated his objections. But he
didn't object to them, nor to the shorthand-writer, whom he had a right
to throw out if he could show reasons for thinking that the man was
likely to be partial in his notes of the proceedings.

"Of course, I as a mere witness wasn't present all the time; but I know
what took place, because I've heard some of it from different quarters.
I know that when 'the court had been duly sworn, the accused was
arraigned,' which means that the president read out the charges against
March, and asked him whether he pleaded guilty or not guilty. Can't you
just hear March answering steadily in that pleasant, quiet voice of his:
'Not guilty!' The next thing to follow was the prosecutor's address,
outlining the case against the prisoner, and mentioning the witnesses he
meant to summon. Then he called the evidence for the prosecution, and
that's where, as I've heard from other witnesses, those present got
their first big surprise.

"Naturally there'd been no end of whispering among those in the know
before the court met; and it was discussed whether or not March would
bring into his defence the state of feeling between Vandyke and himself.
Some thought he would be justified in doing so, and quixotic not to, as
the bad blood between them, and the cause of it (I hope you d