"And pray how should one as young as
you, and coming from a new country like America, know that?"
"Oh!" said I, laughing, "America is just the country for
_alibis_--everybody is everywhere, and nobody anywhere. The
whole nation is in motion, and there is every imaginable opportunity
for _alibis_."
I believe I owed the development of Sweeney's "ulterior views" to this
careless speech. He had no other idea of the word than its legal
signification; and it must have struck him as a little suspicious that
one of my apparent condition in life, and especially of my years,
should be thus early instructed in the meaning of this very useful
professional term. It was a minute before he spoke again, having been
all that time studying my countenance.
"And pray, Master Wallingford," he then inquired, "do you happen to
know what _nolle prosequi_ means, too?"
"Certainly; it means to give up the chase. The French lugger under
Dungeness entered a _nolle prosequi_ as respects my brig, when
she found her hands full of the West-Indiaman."
"So, so; I find I have been keeping company all this time with a
knowing one, and I such a simpleton as to fancy him green! Well, that
I should live to be done by a raw Jonathan!"
"Poh, poh, Mr. Sweeney, I can tell you a story of two of our naval
officers, that took place just before we sailed; and then you will
learn that all hands of us, on the other side of the Big Pond,
understand Latin.
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