“‘Swearin’ ain’t judiciary, Squire!’ says I.

“‘Tain’t none a’ your business,’ he rejoined, letting his anger get above his caution.  ‘Call Jacob—­he’ll swar t’ what he see’d the skipper do!’ Here Jacob, a younger son of the Squire, was called.  Jacob had seen some seventeen summers; and in addition to what larnin’ the Squire had ‘gin him,’ was well up in the swearing business, for the furtherance of which his abilities were frequently invoked.

“‘There is not a man long shore what don’t know and respect Jacob,’ continued the Squire, shutting up his law book, angrily.  ’Jacob’s a son a’ mine—­Jacob ’s got larnin, too—­Jacob ’s bin more nor two years to Master Jacques’s school at the corner; and he has taken Master Jacques’s place many a time when that larned gentleman had taken a drop too much.  Now, Jacob, tell all you know; and let it be just as straight!’

“‘Well, Dad,’ ejaculated Jacob, who, one might seriously have inferred, had been raised on a guano bag, and slipped very unexpectedly into a suit of linsey-woolsey grey mixed; ’I see’d the Virtue at anchor right broad off the nets, which the skipper kept a facksinatin eye on, as he paced up and down the quarter-deck.’

“‘The devil you did!’ Hornblower cried out, at the top of his deep, coarse voice, letting fly a stream of juice that e’en most skinned the Squire’s nasal organ.

“‘Dan’l!—­d——­mn it! bring a bucket here for the skipper!’ interrupted the Squire.  He hoped Jacob would continue with the remainder of his evidence.  ’And the skipper looked so all-fired strong at the nets that I couldn’t help tellin Uncle Enoch how they’d be stripped afore morning.  Sure enough, just as I said, there warn’t a herrin left in the mornin.  Seeing how the game war’ going, I went aboard to take breakfast with the skipper; and there, if his table warn’t spread with the fattest fried fresh herrin—­’

“’That’s all ye knows, ain’t it, Jacob?  That’s more en enough; my own mind was made up afore I read the law, and heard the testimony,’ rejoined the Squire, looking suddenly wise.  ‘Yes, dad!’ emphatically returned Jacob, ’but I know’d they were the very same herrin, by the taste on ’em:  they tasted as if they wor stolen!’ And Jacob having delivered himself of this tart and somewhat strange rejoinder, gave his shoulder a significant shrug, as he watched dad’s eyes, without faltering.

“’That’s plump testimony—­there’s no coming yer Yankee twist over that!  Ye see, Hornblower, I knows the hang of the law, slap up.  The public should know these outrages; the Parliament should be apprised of such breaches of law and moral honesty; the Home Government should know what cussed pests the Yankees are!  We don’t want you here at all, Hornblower; you’ve turned pedler, and upset all our trade—­there now!’ Here the Squire worked himself up into a perfect fever of excitement, pressing his law-book firmly on the table while addressing his legal observations to his auditory.  ’I shall pronounce you guilty, Hornblower, and judge you to pay a fine of twenty pounds currency, according to the sovereign law of this Her Most Gracious Britannic Majesty’s province.’