Our young advocate was really pathetic and amusing. He interested the
judge, he excited the audience with the story of the journey, he told
them all about it, and finally he offered to pay the company what was
due to them.
Unfortunately the judge could not consent. There had been material
damages, moral damages, etc., etc.
Thereupon Pan-Chao became animated, and although we understood nothing
he said, we guessed that he was speaking of the courage of Kinko, of
the sacrifice he had made for the safety of the travelers, and finally,
as a supreme argument, he pleaded that his client had saved the
imperial treasure.
Useless eloquence? Arguments were of no avail with this pitiless
magistrate, who had not acquitted ten prisoners in is life. He spared
the delinquent the bastinado; but he gave him six months in prison, and
condemned him in damages against the Grand Transasiatic Company. And
then at a sign from this condemning machine poor Kinko was taken away.
Let not my readers pity Kinko's fate. I may as well say at once that
everything was arranged satisfactorily.
Next morning Kinko made a triumphal entry into the house in the Avenue
Cha-Coua, where we were assembled, while Madame Caterna was showering
her maternal consolations on the unhappy Zinca Klork.
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