failed. They will declare, if they are called as witnesses, that
the signs on the paper are not according to any known rules, and
are marks made at random, meaning nothing.

"As for any statement, on my part, of the confession made to me,
the law refuses to hear it, except from the mouth of a witness. I
might prove that the ship's course was changed, contrary to my
directions, after I had gone below to rest, if I could find the
man who was steering at the time. God only knows where that man
is.

"On the other hand, the errors of my past life, and my being in
debt, are circumstances dead against me. The lawyers seem to
trust almost entirely in a famous counsel, whom they have engaged
to defend me. For my own part, I go to my trial with little or no
hope.

"If the verdict is guilty, and if you have any regard left for my
character, never rest until you have found somebody who can
interpret these cursed signs. Do for me, I say, what I cannot do
for myself. Recover the diamonds; and, when you restore them,
show my owners this letter.

"Kiss the children for me. I wish them, when they are old enough,
to read this defense of myself and to know that their father, who
loved them dearly, was an innocent man. My good brother will take
care of you, for my sake. I have done.

RODERICK WESTERFIELD."