But on further explanation I began to comprehend that the river-watchers had suspected me of having been flame-poaching all night, and followed me to the cottage. I protested that I was no poacher, but a benighted tourist who had accidentally lost his way upon the hills, and that I could prove my assertions if taken to the Coach and Horses. All I could say was of no avail, and with a fellow-prisoner--a peasant, now brought in--I was marched off to Rhyadder; where, at eleven o'clock on the same day, we were taken before a bench of magistrates, charged with having "unlawfully, by means of torches and spears, captured salmon during the night season." An anxious night had been passed at the Coach and Horses in consequence of my absence. Messengers had been despatched in all directions to inquire and search; and it was not until my messenger arrived, requesting the landlord of the Coach and Horses to come at once and identify me, that the apprehensions of my friends were allayed. * * * * * To prove my innocence was by no means so easy a task as it would appear. Two river-watchers swore point-blank to having seen me and my fellow-prisoner at the edge of the pool fishing with torches, that they watched us for a considerable time, and at daybreak followed us to the cottage where we were apprehended. The oaths of these two men, combined with circumstantial evidence, were so strong against me that I almost doubted whether I had been poaching or not! My urgent declaration that I had been sitting upon a rock all night seemed weakish; it wouldn't "wash." I overheard one of the magistrates whisper to his neighbour something about "a cock-and-bull story." I had well-nigh broken down in my _alibi_ when the landlord of the Coach and Horses rushed into court. But he could only identify me as the missing gentleman. "Where did you pass the night?" was the repeated question from the Bench. I had never found so much difficulty in accounting for myself during a night in my life; and my assurance that I had been benighted upon a mountain gave rise to much merriment amongst the audience, salmon poaching being at that time a very common offence in Wales. On the other hand the two river-watchers had sworn that they had followed us, step by step, from the pool to the cottage--a distance of two miles--and that they had never lost sight of us. The fact proved to be that they had followed and apprehended two men, but the second poacher had slipped out of the cottage when the watchers entered, and _I_ had slipped into his place! My landlord of the Coach and Horses pleaded earnestly for my acquittal, but facts are stubborn--so are Welsh justices; and it was with the greatest reluctance that the Bench consented to release me on bail, to come up again for judgment in a week, during which time further inquiry would be made into my statement.