"Yes, sair," returned the Frenchman, who, bent on saying that which was courteous himself, and comprehending with difficulty, was disposed to think he received a compliment, "you too good.
But un brave always comme ca.
What that mean? ha! what that jeune homme do?" The hand and eye of Captain Sanglier directed the look of Pathfinder to the opposite side of the fire, where Jasper, just at that moment, had been rudely seized by two of the soldiers, who were binding his arms under the direction of Muir. "What does that mean, indeed?" cried the guide, stepping forward and shoving the two subordinates away with a power of muscle that would not be denied.
"Who has the heart to do this to Jasper Eau-douce? And who has the boldness to do it before my eyes?"
"It is by my orders, Pathfinder," answered the Quartermaster, "and I command it on my own responsibility.
Ye'll no' tak' on yourself to dispute the legality of orders given by one who bears the king's commission to the king's soldiers?"
"I'd dispute the king's words, if they came from the king's own mouth, did he say that Jasper desarves this.
Has not the lad just saved all our scalps, taken us from defeat, and given us victory?
No, no, Lieutenant; if this is the first use that you make of your authority, I, for one, will not respect it."
"This savors a little of insubordination," answered Muir; "but we can bear much from Pathfinder.
It is true this Jasper has seemed to serve us in this affair, but we ought not to overlook past transactions.
Did not Major Duncan himself denounce him to Sergeant Dunham before we left the post?
Have we not seen sufficient with our own eyes to make sure of having been betrayed?
And is it not natural, and almost necessary, to believe that this young man has been the traitor?
Ah, Pathfinder! Ye'll no' be making yourself a great statesman or a great captain if you put too much faith in appearances.
Lord bless me! Lord bless me! If I do not believe, could the truth be come at, as you often say yourself, Pathfinder, that hypocrisy is a more common vice than even envy, and that's the bane of human nature."
Captain Sanglier shrugged his shoulders; then he looked earnestly from Jasper towards the Quartermaster, and from the Quartermaster towards Jasper.
"I care not for your envy, or your hypocrisy, or even for your human natur'," returned Pathfinder.
"Jasper Eau-douce is my friend; Jasper Eau-douce is a brave lad, and an honest lad, and a loyal lad; and no man of the 55th shall lay hands on him, short of Lundie's own orders, while I'm in the way to prevent it.
You may have authority over your soldiers; but you have none over Jasper and me, Master Muir."
"Bon!" ejaculated Sanglier, the sound partaking equally of the energies of the throat and of the nose.
"Will ye no' hearken to reason, Pathfinder?
Ye'll no' be forgetting our suspicions and judgments; and here is another circumstance to augment and aggravate them all.
Ye can see this little bit of bunting; well, where should it be found but by Mabel Dunham, on the branch of a tree on this very island, just an hour or so before the attack of the enemy; and if ye'll be at the trouble to look at the fly of the Scud's ensign, ye'll just say that the cloth has been cut from out it.
Circumstantial evidence was never stronger."
"Ma foi, c'est un peu fort, ceci," growled Sanglier between his teeth.
"Talk to me of no ensigns and signals when I know the heart," continued the Pathfinder.
"Jasper has the gift of honesty; and it is too rare a gift to be trifled with, like a Mingo's conscience.
No, no; off hands, or we shall see which can make the stoutest battle; you and your men of the 55th, or the Sarpent here, and Killdeer, with Jasper and his crew.
You overrate your force, Lieutenant Muir, as much as you underrate Eau-douce's truth."
"Tres bon!" "Well, if I must speak plainly, Pathfinder, I e'en must.
Captain Sanglier here and Arrowhead, this brave Tuscarora, have both informed me that this unfortunate boy is the traitor.
After such testimony you can no longer oppose my right to correct him, as well as the necessity of the act."
"Scelerat," muttered the Frenchman.
"Captain Sanglier is a brave soldier, and will not gainsay the conduct of an honest sailor," put in Jasper. "Is there any traitor here, Captain Flinty-heart?"
"Ay," added Muir, "let him speak out then, since ye wish it, unhappy youth! That the truth may be known.
I only hope that ye may escape the last punishment when a court will be sitting on your misdeeds.
How is it, Captain; do ye, or do ye not, see a traitor amang us?"
"Oui -- yes, sair -- bien sur."
"Too much lie!" said Arrowhead in a voice of thunder, striking the breast of Muir with the back of his own hand in a sort of ungovernable gesture; "where my warriors? - where Yengeese scalp?
Too much lie!"
Muir wanted not for personal courage, nor for a certain sense of personal honor.
The violence which had been intended only for a gesture he mistook for a blow; for conscience was suddenly aroused within him, and he stepped back a pace, extending his hand towards a gun.
His face was livid with rage, and his countenance expressed the fell intention of his heart.
But Arrowhead was too quick for him; with a wild glance of the eye the Tuscarora looked about him; then thrust a hand beneath his own girdle, drew forth a concealed knife, and, in the twinkling of an eye, buried it in the body of the Quartermaster to the handle.
As the latter fell at his feet, gazing into his face with the vacant stare of one surprised by death, Sanglier took a pinch of snuff, and said in a calm voice, --
"Voila l'affaire finie; mais," shrugging his shoulders, " ce n'est qu'un scelerat de moins."
The act was too sudden to be prevented; and when Arrowhead, uttering a yell, bounded into the bushes, the white men were too confounded to follow.
Chingachgook, however, was more collected; and the bushes had scarcely closed on the passing body of the Tuscarora than they were again opened by that of the Delaware in full pursuit.
Jasper Western spoke French fluently, and the words and manner of Sanglier struck him.