he judge with solemn earnestness.

'Gregor Mac Donalbain,' answered the prisoner; 'a nobleman of the
highlands of Scotland.'

'Do you still continue, with shameless effrontery, to make that
assertion?' interposed Megret.

'Forget not, colonel,' cried Mac Donalbain with vehemence, 'that here
you have no right to question me, and that I do not acknowledge any
obligation to answer you.'

'Neither should you forget,' said Megret, with bitterness, 'that pride
and insolence will make your bad cause still worse, and forever close
the door of mercy which true repentance and humility may perhaps
otherwise open for you.'

'You would indeed very willingly see me, overpowered by the fear of
death, begging my life at your feet,' rejoined Mac Donalbain,
disdainfully. 'But you may as well resign all hope of that pleasure. I
reject and scorn all mercy for which I must be indebted to you.'

The judge commanded both of them to be silent. 'Admitting the
correctness of your statement,' said he to Mac Donalbain, 'how is it
possible that you could stain your nobility by abandoning yourself to
so horrible and reprobate a profession?'

'It was my fate!' answered Mac Donalbain doggedly, and casting his eyes
upon the ground.

'So, but too often, does man name the consequences of his passions and
his crimes!' remarked the judge.

'So,' said Mac Donalbain, 'may this name be often applied to the
injustice which an unfortunate man suffers from his brethren, when that
injustice impels him to deeds which else would have been abhorrent to
his soul. A cruel injury to my honor, which I suffered in the service
of the British king, threw me into the arms of the English buccaneers.
My name became known and feared in both the eastern and western oceans.
The lords of the earth, however they may indulge in similar enterprizes
on a great scale for the accomplishment of their projects, array
themselves against little private exploits. Excluded from the ports of
all civilized nations, we were at length compelled to seek an asylum in
Africa. We found one in Madagascar. There we heard of the return of the
hero of the north to his own country. We hoped that this prince, fond
of war, and compelled as he was to engage in it, would receive us with
open arms. Offering to him our services, we proposed to enter the port
of Gottenburg with sixty sail of vessels. Two of his nobility closed a
treaty with us in his name. I was sent here before the arrival of the
f