"Would any brother speak?" asked Esmo, when the silence of the Chiefs had lasted for a few moments.
But his rebuke had silenced Kevimâ, and no one else cared to interpose. The eyes of the assembly turned upon me so generally and so pointedly, that at last I felt myself forced, though against my own judgment, to rise.
"I have no question to ask the accused," I said.
"Then," replied Esmo calmly, "you have nothing now to say. Give to the brother accused before us the cup of rest."
A small goblet was handed by one of the sentries to the miserable creature, now half-insensible, who awaited our judgment. In a very few moments he had sunk into a slumber in which his face was comparatively calm, and his limbs had ceased to tremble. His fate was to be debated in the presence indeed of his body, but in the absence of consciousness and knowledge.
"Has any elder brother," inquired Esmo, "counsel to afford?"
No word was spoken.
"Has any brother counsel to afford?"
Again all were silent, till the glance which the Chief cast in order along the ranks of the assembly fell upon myself.
"One word," I said. "I claim permission to speak, because the matter touches closely and cruelly my own honour."