The laugh which
succeeded was one of effectual discomfiture, and the helpless barrister
made good his retreat from a field so unpromising by a pursuit of the
swift-footed negro, taking care not to return from the chase.
Colleton, who had regarded this interlude with stern brow and wrathful
spirit, now spoke, addressing Munro:--
"You affirm most strongly for this villain, but your speech is vain if
its object be to satisfy my doubts. What effect it may have upon our
hearers is quite another matter. You can not swear me out of my
conviction and the integrity of my senses. I am resolute in the one
belief, and do not hesitate here, and in the presence of himself and all
of you, to pronounce him again all the scoundrel I declared him to be at
first--in the teeth of all your denials not less than of his! But,
perhaps--as you answer for him so readily and so well--let us know, for
doubtless you can, by what chance he came by that brand, that fine
impress which he wears so happily upon his cheek.
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