When pressed as to the cause that he
assigned for this, he gave, in a few comprehensive outlines, the story
of the capture and the deliverance of the Emir's bride; this was all
that could be elicited from him; and even this was answered only out
of deference to the authority of the court, and from his unwillingness,
even now, to set a bad example before the men with whom he had served so
long. When it was finally demanded of him if he had aught to urge in his
own extenuation, he paused a moment, with a gaze under which even
the hard, eagle eyes grew restless, looked across to Chateauroy, and
addressed his antagonist rather than the president.
"Only this: that a tyrant, a liar, and a traducer cannot wonder if men
prefer death to submission beneath insult. But I am well aware this is
no vindication of my act as a soldier, and I have no desire to say words
which, whatever their truth, might become hereafter dangerous legacies,
and dangerous precedents to the army."
That was all which he answered, and neither his counsel nor his accusers
could extort another syllable from him.
He knew that what he had done was justified to his own conscience, but
he did not seek to dispute that it was unjustifiable in military law.
True, had all been told, it was possible enough that his judges would
exonerate him morally, even if they condemned him legally; his act
would be seen blameless as a man's, even while still punishable as a
soldier's; but to purchase immunity for himself at the cost of bringing
the fairness of her fame into the coarse babble of men's tongues was an
alternative, craven and shameful, which never even once glanced across
his thoughts.
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