I bit my lip and kept back the angry word. The next minute saw us at the door of the state cabin. It opened, and my companion entered, and I after him, with my two guards at my back. Around a large table were gathered a number of gentlemen, some seated, some standing. There were but two among them whom I had seen before,--the physician who had dressed my wound and my Lord Carnal. The latter was seated in a great chair, beside a gentleman with a pleasant active face and light brown curling hair,--the new Governor, as I guessed. The Treasurer, nodding to the two men to fall back to the window, glided to a seat upon my lord's other hand, and I went and stood before the Governor of Virginia.
For some moments there was silence in the cabin, every man being engaged in staring at me with all his eyes; then the Governor spoke: "It should be upon your knees, sir."
"I am neither petitioner nor penitent," I said. "I know no reason why I should kneel, your Honor."
"There 's reason, God wot, why you should be both!" he exclaimed. "Did you not, now some months agone, defy the writ of the King and Company, refusing to stand when called upon to do so in the King's name?"
"Yes."
"Did you not, when he would have stayed your lawless flight, lay violent hands upon a nobleman high in the King's favor, and, overpowering him with numbers, carry him out of the King's realm?"
"Yes."
"Did you not seduce from her duty to the King, and force to fly with you, his Majesty's ward, the Lady Jocelyn Leigh?"
"No," I said. "There was with me only my wife, who chose to follow the fortunes of her husband."
He frowned, and my lord swore beneath his breath. "Did you not, falling in with a pirate ship, cast in your lot with the scoundrels upon it, and yourself turn pirate?"
"In some sort."
"And become their chief?"
"Since there was no other situation open,--yes."
"Taking with you as captives upon the pirate ship that lady and that nobleman?"
"Yes."
"You proceeded to ravage the dominions of the King of Spain, with whom his Majesty is at peace"-"Like Drake and Raleigh,--yes," I said.
He smiled, then frowned "Tempora mutantur," he said dryly. "And I have never heard that Drake or Raleigh attacked an English ship."
"Nor have I attacked one," I said.
He leaned back in his chair and stared at me. "We saw the flame and heard the thunder of your guns, and our rigging was cut by the shot. Did you expect me to believe that last assertion?"