hurriedly and delightedly to the barrack-room of his
friend.




CHAPTER VI.

The hour fixed for the trial of the prisoner Halloway
had now arrived, and the officers composing the court
were all met in the mess-room of the garrison, surrounding
a long table covered with green cloth, over which were
distributed pens, ink, and paper for taking minutes of
the evidence, and such notes of the proceedings as the
several members might deem necessary in the course of
the trial. Captain Blessington presided; and next him,
on either hand, were the first in seniority, the two
junior occupying the lowest places. The demeanour of the
several officers, serious and befitting the duty they
were met to perform, was rendered more especially solemn
from the presence of the governor, who sat a little to
the right of the president, and without the circle,
remained covered, and with his arms folded across his
chest. At a signal given by the president to the orderly
in waiting, that individual disappeared from the room,
and soon afterwards Frank Halloway, strongly ironed, as
on the preceding night, was ushered in by several files
of the guard, under Ensign Fortescue himself.

The prisoner having been stationed a few paces on the