And that was an
awful waste of good liquor, and I knew John Rose would grieve when I
told him.
They had a clean case against me, and I was taken with the _Aurora_ to
Harbor Grace for trial. When they asked me what I had to say, I told 'em
that I was simply bringing a little keg of rum from a man in Saint
Pierre to his friend in Auvergne. They asked me the name of the man in
Saint Pierre, and I said I didn't know. They asked me the name of the
man in Auvergne, and I said I didn't know. "Was this the man?" they
asks, and shows me the tag on the keg. I didn't answer. And they went on
to show there was no man in Auvergne by that name, and what were they to
understand by that?
I told them I didn't know--it was past me. And it cert'nly was. But they
knew what to make of it, they said. There were people in Auvergne doing
this illegal business under false names. And I had used a false name,
and to try to tell the honorable court that I did not know the name of
the man in Saint Pierre who gave me the rum, nor the man I was bringing
it to--why, I knew very well who gave me the rum, and I knew who I was
bringing it to, and if the truth were known, I knew a lot more about the
rum-smuggling traffic. And they were going to put a stop to it.
And they laid a fine of twenty-five hundred dollars against my vessel.
Maybe you might think that a pretty heavy fine, but that's nothing.
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