Рафаэль Сабатини – Captain Blood: His Odyssey / Одиссея капитана Блада (страница 4)

“We must follow the usual methods of trial, so I must interrupt you. I’m sure you do not know the forms of law?”

“I don’t, my lord, and I would not want to learn them.”

The Lord Chief Justice smiled.

“I believe you. We shall hear you when you come to your defense. But now you cannot say anything.”

Mr. Blood answered that he would be tried by God and his country. The clerk then called upon Andrew Baynes to hold up his hand.

When Baynes said he was not guilty, the clerk called upon Pitt, who said he was guilty. The Lord Chief Justice was happy to hear that.

“Come; that’s better. If he answered as the other two rebels, there would never be an end.”

After those words, Mr. Pollexfen stood up. He said that there was a general case against the three men, and a particular case against Peter Blood.

The only witness for the King was Captain Hobart. He told the jury how he had found and taken the three prisoners, together with Lord Gildoy. He would have hanged Pitt, but had listened to the lies of the prisoner Blood and believed that Pitt was a noble man.

As the Captain finished, Lord Jefrf eys looked at Peter Blood.

“Will the prisoner Blood ask the witness any questions?”

“No, my lord. He has told you exactly what happened”

“I am glad. For we always have the truth in the end. Be sure of that.”

Baynes and Pitt admitted that the Captain’s evidence was accurate. The Lord Chief Justice sighed. He was relieved.

“If this is so, let us continue, because we have much to do.” His voice was not gentle anymore. “I think, Mr. Pollexfen, now when these three prisoners admitted their treason, there is no more to be said.”

Peter Blood spoke and members of the jury could almost hear laughter in his voice.

“There’s much more to be said.”

Lord Jefrf eys looked at him, first in surprise, then in anger.

“How now? Would you waste our time?”

“I would like to speak in my defense, as you promised me.”

“Why, so you shall.” The Lord Chief Justice took a handkerchief with his delicate unusually white hand and touched his lips and then his brow with it. Peter Blood saw that the disease that was destroying him made him feel pain. “So you shall. But after you admitted your treason, what defense is there?”

“You shall judge, my lord.”

“That is why I sit here.”

“And so shall you, gentlemen.” Blood looked from judge to jury. The jury moved under the look of his blue eyes.

“Captain Hobart has told you what he knows – that he found me at the farm on the Monday morning after the battle at Weston. But he has not told you what I did there.”

Again the Judge broke in. “Why, what should you have been doing there among rebels? Two of them – Lord Gildoy and your friend there – have already admitted their guilt.”

“That is what I would like to tell you.”

“Well, do, but be brief, man.”

“I was there, my lord, as a doctor, to help the wounded Lord Gildoy.”

“What’s this? Do you tell us that you are a doctor?”

“A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin.”

“Good God!” cried Lord Jefrf eys and looked at the jury. “You heard the witness say that he had known him in France some years ago? He was then an oficf er in the French service. You heard the prisoner admit that the witness had spoken the truth?”

“That is true. What I am telling you is also true. For some years I was a soldier; but before that I was a doctor, and I have been a doctor in Bridgewater since last January. I can bring a hundred witnesses to prove.”

“Don’t waste our time with that. I will ask you only this: Why were you with the army of the Duke of Monmouth?”

“I was never with that army. No witness has said that, and no witness will. What should I as a papist be doing in the army of the Protestant leader?”

“A papist?” The judge looked at him for a moment. “You are more like a Presbyterian. I can smell a Presbyterian forty miles.”

“Then why can’t you smell a papist at four steps?”

Some people in the galleries laughed, but they were silent when the Judge looked at them.

Lord Jefrf eys raised his delicate white hand.

“We won’t talk about your religion, friend,” said he. “But listen to what I say to you. Know, friend, there is no religion that says that lying is a good thing. There is nothing more precious in the world than a soul. Why were you taken with these rebels?”

Peter Blood looked at him for a moment. The man was a nightmare judge. Then he replied:

“I was asked that morning to help Lord Gildoy, and as I am a doctor it was my duty to help him.”

“Was it?” The Judge – his face white, his lips blood red – looked upon him in anger. Then he sighed. His voice was gentle and sad again. “Lord! How you waste our time. Who asked you?”

“Master Pitt, you can ask him.”

“Oh! Master Pitt is a traitor. He admitted it. Is that your witness?”

“There is also Master Baynes here, who can answer to it.”

“Good Master Baynes will have to answer for himself. Come, come, sir; are these your only witnesses?”

“I could bring others from Bridgewater, who saw me set out that morning.”

The Judge smiled. “It will not be necessary. I do not want to waste more time on you. Answer me only this: When Master Pitt came to ask you for help, did you know that he supported Monmouth?”

“I did, my lord.”

“You did! Ha!” Lord Jefrf eys looked at the scared jury and laughed. “Yet you went with him?”

“To help a wounded man, as was my duty.”

“Your duty, you say? Your duty is to your King and to God. But let it pass. Did he tell you who needed help?”

“Lord Gildoy – yes.”

“And you knew that Lord Gildoy had been wounded in the battle, and on what side he fought?”

“I knew.”

“And yet you went to help him?”

Peter Blood lost patience for a moment. “I cared only for his wounds, not his politics.”

Voices from the galleries and even from the jury approved him. It made the judge even angrier.

“Jesus God!” Lord Jeffreys turned, pale, to the jury. “He has said enough to hang him many times. Yet there is more. Answer me this, sir: Why did you lie to Captain Hobart about this other traitor Pitt?”

“I wanted to save him from being hanged without trial.”

“Why would you care if and how he was hanged?”

“I cared for justice. An injustice done in the name of the King hurts the King’s honour.”

Mr. Blood could see that Lord Jefrf eys did not want him to impress the jury. The judge leaned forward. “Jesus God!” he said. “I see you at the gallows already.” Lord Jefrf eys sat back again. It was as if a curtain fell. All emotion passed again from his pale face. After a moment’s pause, he turned again to the jury and spoke in a soft voice.

“Gentlemen, if any person is in rebellion against the King, and another person – who was not in rebellion – helps him, such a person is a traitor too.”