'So, but too often, does man name the consequences of his passions and his crimes!' remarked the judge. 'So,' said Mac Donalbain, 'may this name be often applied to the injustice which an unfortunate man suffers from his brethren, when that injustice impels him to deeds which else would have been abhorrent to his soul. A cruel injury to my honor, which I suffered in the service of the British king, threw me into the arms of the English buccaneers. My name became known and feared in both the eastern and western oceans. The lords of the earth, however they may indulge in similar enterprizes on a great scale for the accomplishment of their projects, array themselves against little private exploits. Excluded from the ports of all civilized nations, we were at length compelled to seek an asylum in Africa. We found one in Madagascar. There we heard of the return of the hero of the north to his own country. We hoped that this prince, fond of war, and compelled as he was to engage in it, would receive us with open arms. Offering to him our services, we proposed to enter the port of Gottenburg with sixty sail of vessels. Two of his nobility closed a treaty with us in his name. I was sent here before the arrival of the fleet to prepare every thing for its reception; but a fever seized me at Gottenburg; and before my recovery the king fell before Frederickshall. Storms, and Europe's _licensed_ pirates, annihilated our fleet upon its way hither, and when at length I arose from my bed of sickness I was a beggar. There was no longer any hope of the fulfilment of the royal promise. With Charles's seal and signature for the rank of colonel, I could not even obtain a company. Then again awoke in me the bitter hatred of mankind. My last hope to live and fall as an honorable soldier, was destroyed. The country which denied me my well acquired rights, threw me back to the state of nature, in which every man sustains and defends himself by his own natural powers. I then felt myself authorized to make war upon my enemies, and take what I needed with the strong hand. A band of unfortunates, who like me had nothing to lose, chose me for their leader, and the struggle between myself and the crown of Sweden began. I have been overcome and am therefore in the wrong;--for which reason I pray you quickly to break the staff of justice over my head. I am ready to die.' 'Dreadful man!' cried the judge. 'Have you also such sophisms in readiness to excuse the misery and shame you have brought upon a noble house within whose walls you were hospitably received?' 'That is the curse of my life,' cried Mac Donalbain, repentantly, 'for which I cannot answer. For that must I call down justice upon myself. However hard your sentence may fall upon me, by that alone have I deserved it, and willingly bow myself before the chastening hand of the law.'