Part XIV The White Dove
The decision of the court at the conclusion of the long trial was as follows:
“Whereas: After hearing all the evidence, it has been found impossible to establish fully the exact nature of twenty-one of the twenty-two crimes, for which the prisoner has been indicted, the court has decided to pronounce him guilty of only the twenty-second and last on the register—‘Treason.’
“But, as the prisoner avers that this transgression was committed by his blood-comrade, who occupied his, the prisoner’s, body at the time the crime was committed; and that his, the prisoner’s, mind was not cognizant of the blood-comrade’s intentions when the exchange of bodies was effected, the court has decided to acquit the prisoner’s mind and commend it to the mercy of God; and, that it may serve as a lesson to all miscreants who contemplate a similar crime, to sentence the body to death by a merciful shot in the back of the head.”
The prisoner thanked the court for its clemency and assured the honorable gentlemen that he had no desire to postpone the execution of the just sentence.
When he was brought to the place of execution he removed his coat and hat, then requested, as a last favor, that his hands might be left free, and not bound behind his back, as he wished to clasp them on his breast in prayer.
The request was granted. He knelt, and in an audible tone repeated the Lord’s Prayer. Then he turned toward the musketeers, who were waiting matches in readiness above the priming-pans, and said earnestly:
“Comrades, I beg you, when you shoot me, try also to kill the raven which is fluttering on my shoulder”—he glanced furtively toward his shoulder and added joyfully: “No! No! it is not the raven—it is my white dove—my precious white dove! She has come to bear my soul to the land wherein she now dwells! My good angel!—My Madus—my only love!”
Twelve musket shots rang out on the silent air, and the white dove soared away with the released soul.
FINIS.)
In Part VII, Chapter I, a quotation mark was removed after “respectable God-fearing man”.