Jack groaned and hung his head. He was about to be set up good and proper.

‘Approach the bar, Porter.’

The vagabond swaggered up to the judges, shooting Jack a roguish wink as he passed. The court scribe held out a heavy leather-bound bible and Porter, resting his grubby hand on it, vowed to tell nothing but the truth. But Jack spotted that the vagabond had crossed his fingers behind his back as he was making his vow, so knew Porter would have no qualms about breaking his oath.

‘Pray tell us what you witnessed,’ ordered the judge.

‘Well, I wasn’t exactly there, your honour, being somewhat engaged in other matters,’ Porter admitted with a playfully guilty expression. ‘But I recognize this ruffler –’ he pointed at Jack. ‘I was minding me own business at market, Cheapside, when he and his foreign friends jumped me. He had this massive curved sword and all I had with me was my little dagger. It was lucky the constables came when they did, or I’d have been –’

‘Thank you for your account, Porter,’ interrupted the judge. ‘We will, of course, bear in mind your willingness to cooperate here when it comes to your own trial. Now retake your seat.’

‘My pleasure,’ grinned Porter, bowing and scraping all the way back to his place.

The judge now turned to Jack. ‘What do you have to say in your defence, prisoner?’

Jack had been rendered almost speechless by the catalogue of lies levelled at him. ‘That isn’t at all what happened! Porter and his gang tried to rob us. That man there, Sir Toby, offended my friends, tried to forcibly take my swords from me, then he threw down the gauntlet for a duel, not m–’

‘Are you a knight?’ interrupted the first deputy. He examined the parchment before him. ‘I see no “Sir” before your name.’

Jack hesitated. ‘Er, no … not exactly … not in England at least, but I –’

‘Well, then –’ the deputy crossed his arms smugly – ‘Sir Toby was in the right to demand your swords.’

Sir Toby puffed out his chest at this validation.

‘He has no right to take what isn’t his,’ Jack countered. ‘The man’s no better than that thief Porter there –’

‘We’ll have no slander in this court,’ the judge cut in sharply. ‘I think we’ve heard enough from you, Jack Fletcher. Unless you wish to call any witnesses in your defence?’

Through gritted teeth, Jack replied, ‘I don’t have any.’

‘So it’s your word against theirs,’ observed the deputy with the bushy eyebrows. ‘The word of a vagrant seaman against that of these three fine, upstanding knighted gentlemen.’

‘This isn’t a fair trial!’ Jack protested again.

The judge glared at Jack. ‘I believe it is we, as the judges appointed by His Majesty the King, who shall determine what is fair and just in this court.’