In Afric’s Forest and Jungle 
before the trial ended, proved to be a wise and 
just judge. 
The soldier then prostrated and preferred his 
charge. He declared that I was an officer of 
high rank in Areh’s army, that 1 was riding 
Areh's war horse, that I had come with an army 
to attack the Ebaddans at Edo, and that I had 
been captured after a desperate fight. He cun¬ 
ningly left the governor to infer how great a 
slaughter I had made. Knowing that every 
officer taken prisoner in this country is put to 
death, I suddenly awoke to the fact that 1 was 
charged with a capital crime, and that if I could 
not disprove the lying accusation of the soldier, 
there were but a few moments more between 
me and a bloody death. Speaking respectfully 
but earnestly and using my companion as an 
interpreter, 1 explained everything fully. The 
governor replied to this by saying that a white 
man had been brought to Ebaddan badly 
wounded and that he was then with some 
friends in an adjoining house, and he supposed 
that this was the man we had come to warn of 
his danger. He then demanded my gun and my 
sword, but when these could not be produced, he 
gave a grunt of displeasure. He seemed to 
think that the soldier or the person whose agent 
138 
