ful to the guilty, we prove ourselves to be over-cruel to the innocent."
"Captain Raleigh, Captain Raleigh," said Lord Gray, "the blood of these men be on your head!"
"It ill befits your Lordship," answered Raleigh, "to throw on your subordinates the blame of that which your reason approves as necessary."
"I should have thought, sir, that one so noted for ambition as Captain Raleigh would have been more careful of the favor of that queen for whose smiles he is said to be so longing a competitor. If you have not yet been of her counsels, sir, I can tell you you are not likely to be. She will be furious when she hears of this cruelty."
Lord Gray had lost his temper: but Raleigh kept his, and answered quietly—
"Her majesty shall at least not find me among the number of those who prefer her favor to her safety, and abuse to their own profit that over-tenderness and mercifulness of heart which is the only blemish (and yet, rather like a mole on a fair cheek, but a new beauty) in her manifold perfections."
At this juncture Cary returned.
"My Lord," said he, in some confusion, "I have proposed your terms; but the captains still entreat for some mitigation; and, to tell you truth, one of them has insisted on accompanying me hither to plead his cause himself."
"I will not see him, sir. Who is he?"
"His name is Sebastian of Modena, my Lord."
"Sebastian of Modena? What think you, gentlemen? May we make an exception in favor of so famous a soldier?"
"So villanous a cut-throat," said Zouch to Raleigh, under his breath.
All, however, were for speaking with so famous a man; and in came, in full armor, a short, bull-necked Italian, evidently of immense strength, of the true Cæsar Borgia stamp.
"Will you please to be seated, sir," said Lord Gray coldly.
"I kiss your hands, most illustrious: but I do not sit in an enemy's camp. Ha, my friend Zouch! How has your Signoria fared since we fought side by side at Lepanto? So you too are here, sitting in council on the hanging of me."
"What is your errand, sir? Time is short," said the Lord Deputy.
"Corpo di Bacco! It has been long enough all the morning, for my rascals have kept me and my friend the Colonel Hercules (whom you know, doubtless) prisoners in our tents at the pike's point. My Lord Deputy, I have but a few words. I shall thank you to take every soldier in the fort—Italian, Spaniard, and Irish—and hang them up as high as Haman, for a set of mutinous cowards, with the arch-traitor San Josepho at their head."
"I am obliged to you for your offer, sir, and shall deliberate presently as to whether I shall not accept it."
