"There's no use in blowing up a fellow in this fashion," answered Rogers. "You hang down on me so, that it's no wonder I don't stir any more than I'm obliged to."
"Good day to you both," said Barton. "I am sorry to see you in such a situation; but you will give me the credit of having prophesied such a result to you."
"I must say, that the advise you gave us, was not far from correct," answered Bagsley; "but I relied upon the majesty of the law, and the sanctity of our persons, as its humble officers, as sufficient to protect us; and I am well convinced, that were our red friends to suffer me to instruct them in some of its elementary principles, they would see the error of their conduct, and discharge us with a proper acknowledgment in satisfaction of damages. But I am sorry to say, that they have thus far refused to listen to instruction relative to a system of jurisprudence, adorned by the writings of Bacon and Coke, and illumined and embellished by the lives of Hale and Mansfeld, and —— I really wish, Mr. Rogers, that you would suffer your person to become a little more pliable." This interruption was occasioned by Rogers having risen erect, in an attempt to illustrate the dignity of the profession of which he was an officer; and the consequence was, that the attorney found himself lifted from his feet, and suspended in the air.
"I aren't to blame," said Rogers gruffly, "for your being so small. Lay that to them as it belongs to."
"After the notice which you have received, gentlemen," said Bagsley, now opening the business of the meeting, "it cannot be necessary for me to state the object of this consultation. You are aware that Mr. Rogers and myself have fallen into the power of our red friends, without legal warrant or authority on their part; by which act, they have undoubtedly become liable to us in damages. But they allege, that they are sovereign in themselves, and only amenable to their own laws; but as they are now in the county of Tryon, this position is anomalous, to say the least; it is an establishment of an imperium in imperio, which cannot exist—as I could substantiate by the authority of the best legal writers. But, notwithstanding such points and arguments as I have presented, and—as Mr. Rogers will admit, with considerable force—they adhere to their first expressed opinion as a point res adjudicata, and refuse to release us, except upon terms. I have the more readily consented to those terms, as I am not called upon in any way to release our rights of action for damages."
"May I ask the precise nature of the terms you mention?" inquired Ralph.
"Of course, Captain Weston; that is a proper subject of inquiry The terms, in themselves, are easy, and I must say, much easier than could have been expected. They are, that we shall be released, on the delivery to them of a certain Indian and his squaw, who are somewhere hereabouts."
"I know the Indian to whom you allude," said Ralph. "The Senecas have already endeavored to obtain possession of him, after having grievously wronged him; and we have thus far defended him, at the risk of our lives."
"I know nothing about the original difficulty between this Indian and the Senecas," said Bagsley, "but whatever it may have been, I think the whole matter can now be amicably adjusted, and will be. You will deliver him and his squaw, and receive us in exchange: the Senecas will at once depart from this territory, and remove with them that anomaly in our laws of which I have spoken; while we, having completed the arrest of Mr. Jenkins, will depart also, and the territory will be quiet again."
The duty which devolved upon Barton and Ralph was becoming exceedingly unpleasant. It was hard to undeceive the unfortunate attorney, whose confidence in the exchange proposed was so strong. He evidently could not realize that any impediment could stand in the way; or that Ralph and Barton could hesitate for a moment in releasing them upon terms that seemed so easy.