Not a little doubt had been felt by the court when deliberating upon the admissibility of the testimony of the old negro. It was contrary to the civil law of the state and contravened also the theory of the unbounded influence over the slave which the master exerts. In view of the pending abolition of slavery, both considerations might be considered abrogated, and since this testimony was of great importance to the prosecution as well as to the defence, bearing directly on the main point at issue,--as a freedman he was duly sworn. The members of the court-martial had ample opportunity to test the degree of patience with which they had been severally endowed as the old darkey was engineered through the preliminary statements; inducted into the witness-chair on the left hand of the judge-advocate, his hat inverted at his feet, with his red bandanna handkerchief filling its crown; induced to give over his acquiescent iteration, "Yes, sah! Yes, sah! jes' ez _you_ say!" regardless of the significance of the question; and at last fairly launched on the rendering of his testimony. The prosecution, however, soon thought he was no such fool as he seemed, for the details of the earlier sojourn of Julius had a simplicity that was coercive of credence. The old servant stated, as if it were a matter of prime importance, that he had to feed him in the salad-bowl. He "das'ent fetch Marse Julius a plate 'kase de widder 'oman, dat's Miss Leonora, mought miss it. But _he_ didn't keer, little Julius didn't,"--then to explain the familiarity of the address he stated that "Julius de youngest ob Marster's chillen--de Baby-chile." Old Ephraim repeated this expression often, thinking it mitigated the fall from political grace which he himself had suffered, because of the leniency which must be shown to a "Baby-chile." And now and then, at first, the court-martial, though far from lacking in brainy endowment and keen perception, were at sea to understand that the "Baby-chile" would have been allowed to smoke a _see_gar,--he being "plumb desperate" for tobacco,--except so anxious was Judge Roscoe to avoid attracting the suspicion of Captain Baynell, who would "have tuk little Julius in quick as a dog snappin' at a fly! Yes--sah--yes--Cap'n," with a deprecatory side glance at Baynell. "De Baby-chile couldn't even dare to smoke, fur fear de Cap'n mought smell it from out de garret. De Baby-chile wanted a _see_gar so bad he sont his Pa forty messages a day. But his Pa didn't allow him ter light one--not one; he jes' gnawed the e-end."