“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.”