given up my connection with the Government; but considering that the life of a fellow-creature was in jeopardy, I at length consented.
A boy, in the employ of Mr. Faulkner, who was supposed to know something of the language, was interrogated as to what had passed between him and the prisoner? But I soon found the boy was altogether ignorant, and was shocked at the idea of his evidence being taken. I then questioned the accused as to how he became possessed of the clothes? He explained, by stating, that they were given him in the manner before-mentioned. I asked the poor fellow if he would know the carpenter again; or where he lived, so as to enable us to obtain his evidence? He said the man had left Geelong, and that he knew nothing about his present residence.
I explained all this to the Justices, but the Captain of the vessel persisted in the statement that the coat belonged to Mr. Hesse; so the prisoner was remanded to the guard-house. The coat was then given into my charge, with instructions that I should make every enquiry concerning its former ownership; and with that view, I gave it into the care of the Chief Constable, readily enlisting his sympathies for the native, who I believed to be innocent.
One day whilst walking along the banks of the river we were talking over the matter, particularly of the hard swearing of the Captain, and of the probable consequences to the accused: when a man, who, with his wife, was within hearing, suddenly stopped, and said
