The doctor, thus assured and placed entirely at his ease, proceeded, in a calm, pleasant way, to state just what had occurred, and how it occurred, since their occupancy of that abandoned house. He particularly detailed the conversation that had incidentally occurred between the colonel and himself, which led to the packing up and sending away of the piano--all of which, he said, could be confirmed by several officers then in the courtroom; that he had done nothing secretly or surreptitiously, nor had he once dreamed that he was doing a wrong in anything he had done; but if, in the judgment of the court, it was wrong, he was quite ready to undo all that he had done, and have the piano put back exactly where he had found it. As to the matter of justification, he preferred to leave that in the hands of his colonel, who had given, to the subject more thought, and could better express those thoughts than himself. The Judge then extended to the colonel the same invitation he had given the doctor, and upon the same terms. The colonel thanked the Judge for the courtesy, and then proceeded to state the facts exactly as the doctor had stated them, and exactly as heretofore given in this chapter. This finished, he next entered upon an argument to prove that all that a man had of personal rights, of property, and even of life, he forfeited when he became disloyal to his government. He laid special stress upon the act of sequestration passed by the rebel or Confederate Congress, and said that the taking of abandoned property by Unionists on this side of the line was only a fair retaliation for what the rebels were doing with the Union people of the South. He also referred to the act of confiscation then recently passed by the United States Congress, and contended that if the government thought it right to confiscate the property of rebels in a wholesale way, individuals were certainly justified in doing it in a retail way. The colonel was earnest, at times quite eloquent, and certainly made the best argument that could possibly be made on that side of the question. When the colonel had finished, the Judge inquired whether any other person present desired to make a statement or an argument in the case. Being answered in the negative, Judge Freese then proceeded to state his own views as follows: