"You assert that the prisoner signed on under a false name?"
The captain shuffled. "Oh, well, fact is——"
"Be careful, Mister David Home, be careful!"
Still the captain shuffled, and his ship's company, present at his request, excepting the Iroquois and the Negro, began to rejoice aloud.
"Am I to understand," thundered Black Douglas, "that you attempt to prejudice the prisoner's case by suggesting that he signed under a false name?"
"No, sir!"
"Then what the devil do you mean by appearing in a British Court of Justice with a false log book? I refuse to receive your evidence. You will leave my court. Get out!"
Nothing could restrain the Beaver's crew from rousing cheers as their captain was shown out, but Black Douglas ordered silence or he would clear the court.
The boatswain's evidence was accepted as to the fact of arrest.
"And now," the magistrate turned to the prisoner, "you are charged," he spoke with a grave gentleness, "with the murder of your parents. Do you plead guilty or not guilty?"