those who are remarkable for loyal and constitutional principles; such are the men we will cherish, such are the men we must and ought to serve.’  It is very true, my lord, it is very true indeed, and—­oh! my friends, I beg your pardon!  I hadn’t noticed you—­oh, dear me! how is this? why I didn’t imagine you had been so sadly abused as all this comes to—­this is dreadful, and all in resisting the king’s warrant against the murderer.  But how did it happen that this Harman murdered our poor friend Harpur?”

“Harpur is done for, captain, sure enough; there’s no doubt of that.”

“Well, it’s one comfort that we live in a country where there is justice, my friends.  Of course you will prosecute him for this diabolical murder; I sent for you to receive your informations, and we shall lodge him in gaol before night.”

“I would rather prosecute that Blackguard Rimon-a-hattha,” said a man, whose head was awfully swollen, and bound up with a handkerchief, “Rimon, Captain, is the greatest rascal of the two—­he is, by, Japurs.”

“Yes, but is he not an idiot, Johnston?  In point of law he is only a fiction, and cannot be prosecuted.”

“Fiction, Captain!  Sowl, I don’t know what you call a fiction—­but if I’m guessin’ properly, hell to the much of it was in his blows—­look at how my head is, and I wish you could see my ribs, plase your worship.”

“Well but let us come to the most important matter first—­and before I go further, my friends and brothers, I would just throw out for your satisfaction, a few observations that I wish to impress upon you.  Recollect that in this business, and in every business like it, you must have the pleasure at least of reflecting that you have now a magistrate who will see that all due care is taken of your interests—­who will accompany your proceedings step by step, and see that all is as it ought to be.  That is not partiality, my dear friends; that is not favor nor affection, nor leaning to you; no, nor—­ha, ha, ha, leaning from you, either, my friends.”

“Long life to your worship!  Long life to you, Captain!  You’re the right sort, and no mistake.”

“M’Dowel, what detained you from your lodge on Thursday night.”

“I was buying a springer in Hush fair, and didn’t get home in time, your worship.”

“Well, M’Dowel, mark-me,—­I neither can, nor will, overlook neglect in these matters.  The man that neglects them wilfully, is a man I won’t depend upon—­and two of your neighbors were absent from parade on Wednesday week.  Now, it’s really too bad to expect that I, or any other gentleman in the country, will exert ourselves so strenuously to sustain and extend our own principles, or! to speak plainly, to keep them up—­to maintain our ascendancy,—­if we cannot reckon upon the earnest and cordial support of those for whose sake we take all this trouble—­upon my honor it’s a shame.”

“It is a shame, Captain, and I say here’s one,” placing his hand upon his heart, “of the right kidney.  By the holy William, there is.”