"The boy has been tried, sir, and found equal to all that can be required of him."
"He has a French name, and has passed much of his boyhood in the French colonies; has he French blood in his veins, Sergeant?"
"Not a drop, your honor.
Jasper's father was an old comrade of my own, and his mother came of an honest and loyal family in this very province."
"How came he then so much among the French, and whence his name?
He speaks the language of the Canadas, too, I find."
"That is easily explained, Major Duncan.
The boy was left under the care of one of our mariners in the old war, and he took to the water like a duck.
Your honor knows that we have no ports on Ontario that can be named as such, and he naturally passed most of his time on the other side of the lake, where the French have had a few vessels these fifty years.
He learned to speak their language, as a matter of course, and got his name from the Indians and Canadians, who are fond of calling men by their qualities, as it might be."
"A French master is but a poor instructor for a British sailor, notwithstanding."
"I beg your pardon, sir: Jasper Eau-douce was brought up under a real English seaman, one that had sailed under the king's pennant, and may be called a thorough-bred; that is to say, a subject born in the colonies, but none the worse at his trade, I hope, Major Duncan, for that."
"Perhaps not, Sergeant, perhaps not; nor any better.
This Jasper behaved well, too, when I gave him the command of the Scud; no lad could have conducted himself more loyally or better."
"Or more bravely, Major Duncan.
I am sorry to see, sir, that you have doubts as to the fidelity of Jasper."
"It is the duty of the soldier who is entrusted with the care of a distant and important post like this, Dunham, never to relax in his vigilance.
We have two of the most artful enemies that the world has ever produced, in their several ways, to contend with, -- the Indians and the French, -- and nothing should be overlooked that can lead to injury."
"I hope your honor considers me fit to be entrusted with any particular reason that may exist for doubting Jasper, since you have seen fit to entrust me with this command."
"It is not that I doubt you, Dunham, that I hesitate to reveal all I may happen to know; but from a strong reluctance to circulate an evil report concerning one of whom I have hitherto thought well.
You must think well of the Pathfinder, or you would not wish to give him your daughter?"
"For the Pathfinder's honesty I will answer with my life, sir," returned the Sergeant firmly, and not without a dignity of manner that struck his superior.
"Such a man doesn't know how to be false."
"I believe you are right, Dunham; and yet this last information has unsettled all my old opinions.
I have received an anonymous communication, Sergeant, advising me to be on my guard against Jasper Western, or Jasper Eau-douce, as he is called, who, it alleges, has been bought by the enemy, and giving me reason to expect that further and more precise information will soon be sent."
"Letters without signatures to them, sir, are scarcely to be regarded in war."
"Or in peace, Dunham.
No one can entertain a lower opinion of the writer of an anonymous letter, in ordinary matters, than myself; the very act denotes cowardice, meanness, and baseness; and it usually is a token of falsehood, as well as of other vices.
But in matters of war it is not exactly the same thing.
Besides, several suspicious circumstances have been pointed out to me."
"Such as is fit for an orderly to hear, your honor?"
"Certainly, one in whom I confide as much as in yourself Dunham.
It is said, for instance, that your daughter and her party were permitted to escape the Iroquois, when they came in, merely to give Jasper credit with me.
I am told that the gentry at Frontenac will care more for the capture of the Scud, with Sergeant Dunham and a party of men, together with the defeat of our favorite plan, than for the capture of a girl and the scalp of her uncle."
"I understand the hint, sir, but I do not give it credit.
Jasper can hardly be true, and Pathfinder false; and,as for the last, I would as soon distrust your honor as distrust him."
"It would seem so, Sergeant; it would indeed seem so.
But Jasper is not the Pathfinder, after all; and I will own, Dunham, I should put more faith in the lad if he didn't speak French."
"It's no recommendation in my eyes, I assure your honor; but the boy learned it by compulsion, as it were, and ought not to be condemned too hastily for the circumstance, by your honor's leave."
"It's a d----d lingo, and never did any one good -- at least no British subject; for I suppose the French themselves must talk together in some language or other.
I should have much more faith in this Jasper, did he know nothing of their language.
This letter has made me uneasy; and, were there another to whom I could trust the cutter, I would devise some means to detain him here.
I have spoken to you already of a brother-in-law, who goes with you, Sergeant, and who is a sailor?"
"A real seafaring man, your honor, and somewhat prejudiced against fresh water.
I doubt if he could be induced to risk his character on a lake, and I'm certain he never could find the station."
"The last is probably true, and then, the man cannot know enough of this treacherous lake to be fit for the employment.
You will have to be doubly vigilant, Dunham.
I give you full powers; and should you detect this Jasper in any treachery, make him a sacrifice at once to offended justice."
"Being in the service of the crown, your honor, he is amenable to martial law."
"Very true; then iron him, from his head to his heels, and send him up here in his own cutter.