"_Fifth;_ of plundering an inhabitant to the extent of at least eighty gold moidores, part of which were found in his baggage and part given to the paymaster of his Majesty's 25th Foot for transmission home. "_Sixth;_ for refusing or declining to take another despatch to Don Baltasar, from Montijo, and thereby showing a complicity with the enemy and dread of detection by the loyal party in Spain." So ended this farrago of words. Aware that sooner or later the proceedings of the court-martial (which we can assure the reader made some noise at the time) would be read at Rohallion, Colonel Crawford had all the charges framed in the name of the general of division. "Oh, Cosmo!" thought Quentin, "you aim not only at my life, but at my honour!" "Well, 'pon my soul," thought the Master, after he heard the list of charges read, "if the fellow gets over all these, I'll say that, with a fair match, and equally weighted, he might run a race with the devil himself!" Quentin pleaded _not guilty_. The court was then cleared of the witnesses and the proceedings commenced. With the regular detail of these we have no intention of afflicting the reader; suffice it, that the solemn and dreary writing down of every question and answer so lengthened them out that they became a source of irritation and agony to one whose temperament was so sharp and impetuous as that of Quentin Kennedy, burning as he was with indignation at accusations so false and so unmerited, and some of which he had a difficulty in refuting; and, we regret to add, that the form of procedure was then, as it is still, old-fashioned, cumbrous, loose, and tedious. There was no regular legal counsel for the prisoner or for the prosecution either; no cross-examination, save such as might emanate from some unusually sharp fellow, who kept himself awake, and affected to take notes, when in reality he was caricaturing Middleton's pigtail, Smith's paunch, and Brown's nose. The witnesses were sometimes examined pell-mell, just as their names stood on the list; their evidence, however, being carefully written down, to the end that it might be read over to them for after-thought or revision before the opinions of the court, as to guilt and sentence, were asked; a formula that always begins with the junior member, the president having the casting vote. Such was then, as it is now, the somewhat rambling, free and easy tenor of a general court-martial; yet, with all its idiosyncrasies, it is ever a just and honourable tribunal, and such as no true soldier would ever wish to change for a civil one. Every member sworn is bound to give an opinion. In the French service a military offence can be tried after the lapse of ten years; with us, the period is three. Warriston objected to the competency of the court; but the president over-ruled his objection by stating that a Volunteer of the Line, like every other camp-follower, was amenable to the "Articles of War."