“Certainly not.  But you have insisted that I should do my duty, and I mean to do it.  You gentlemen have now been proved to my satisfaction to have had traffic with a foreign devil; and under section 37 of the Afforesting Act, I must at once Blue-Pool any such persons without public trial.”

“Nonsense, nonsense, there was nothing of the kind on our permit, and as for trafficking with this foreign devil, we spoke to him, but we neither bought nor sold.  Where is the Act?”

“Here.  On your permit you were referred to certain other clauses not set out therein, which might be seen at the Mayor’s office.  Clause 37 is as follows:-

“It is furthermore enacted that should any of his Majesty’s subjects be found, after examination by the Head Ranger, to have had traffic of any kind by way of sale or barter with any foreign devil, the said Ranger, on being satisfied that such traffic has taken place, shall forthwith, with or without the assistance of his under-rangers, convey such subjects of his Majesty to the Blue Pool, bind them, weight them, and fling them into it, without the formality of a trial, and shall report the circumstances of the case to his Majesty.”

“But we never bought anything from the prisoner.  What evidence can you have of this but the word of a foreign devil in such straits that he would swear to anything?”

“The prisoner has nothing to do with it.  I am convinced by this receipt in Professor Panky’s handwriting which states that he and you jointly purchased his kit from the prisoner, and also this bag of gold nuggets worth about 100 pounds in silver, for the absurdly small sum of 4 pounds, 10s. in silver.  I am further convinced by this handkerchief marked with Professor Hanky’s name, in which was found a broken packet of dried leaves that are now at my office with the rest of the prisoner’s kit.”

“Then we were watched and dogged,” said Hanky, “on Thursday evening.”

“That, sir,” replied George, “is my business, not yours.”

Here Panky laid his arms on the table, buried his head in them, and burst into tears.  Every one seemed aghast, but the Mayor, Yram, and Mrs. Humdrum saw that George was enjoying it all far too keenly to be serious.  Dr. Downie was still frightened (for George’s surface manner was Rhadamanthine) and did his utmost to console Panky.  George pounded away ruthlessly at his case.

“I say nothing about your having bought quails from the prisoner and eaten them.  As you justly remarked just now, there is no object in preferring a smaller charge when one must inflict the death penalty on a more serious one.  Still, Professor Hanky, these are bones of the quails you ate as you sate opposite the prisoner on the side of the fire nearest Sunch’ston; these are Professor Panky’s bones, with which I need not disturb him.  This is your permit, which was found upon the prisoner, and which there can be no doubt you sold him, having been bribed by the offer of the nuggets for—­”