When speedily caught, a criminal was sure to suffer severely. If apprehended a year later, the penalty was much lighter as the fictitious anger of the state was supposed to be cooler. Towers of Refuge were not only common to Asia, but were found all over the Americas and the accused was immune when once inside its sacred walls. The trial of Alcamayn was a proceeding wholly extraordinary, irregular and independent of set rules and fixed conditions. Yermah sat with the Council of State, and was deputed by them to represent the civic interests in the final judgment. Equity was supposed to flow from the conscience of the Servitor. He, alone, could pronounce the death sentence, after the judges and jurors had passed upon the case. Yermah asked Ben Hu Barabe, the civil chief and law-giver of the Monbas, to personate him in the commonwealth. The four preliminary trials were before the assembly of the tribes, represented by Ben Hu Barabe; the tribunal of God, represented by Imos; the assembly of one hundred, represented by Setos; and the laws of nations, represented by Hanabusa. These men were the four accusers, who appeared before Yermah and demanded the forfeit of Alcamayn’s life, when, at sunrise, the final sitting began. In addition to the twelve judges and eighty jurors, there were as many more students, who stood behind their elders, and in this way learned to practice in the courts. * * * * * With a thin iron collar around his neck, to which three chains were attached, held by a soldier on each side and one behind, Alcamayn was led before the Tribunal. He was dressed in black, with a light weight iron crown on his head shaped like an inverted pentagram. The high-priest, Imos, preceded Alcamayn, carrying a rod of iron in his hand. Stationing himself at the left of the prisoner, the high-priest waited Yermah’s question: “Why comest thou here, Imos?” “To claim the life of this man,” touching Alcamayn with the rod, then laying hold of him. The prisoner made a show of resistance, until Yermah bade them relax their hold. “Alcamayn, what means thy interference?” “I crave the right to establish and prove my innocence,” answered the accused in an unsteady voice. “May the life within me be forfeited, if there be no justice in my cause.” Imos spoke with decisive emphasis. “If this man merit not death, take thou vengeance on me,” said Ben Hu Barabe, standing beside Imos. “The same dread fate await me too, if there be reason for merciful judgment here.” Hanabusa spoke with deliberation, as he joined the other accusers. “Woe is me!” wailed Setos, unsteadily. “Yet I and all my posterity would be forever accursed if we hindered justice. I am here to claim the life of Alcamayn, and to stake my own on the demand.” He did not look at the jeweler, and it seemed difficult for him to stand, while the accused said in a low voice: