nature has a presentiment, as it were, which way the character is likely to incline." "A very just remark," added Cap, "for that is the time of life when we all learn the catechism, and other moral improvements. The sergeant's observation shows that he understands human nature, and I agree with him perfectly; it is a damnable thing for a youngster, up here on this bit of fresh water, to talk French. If it were down on the Atlantic now, where a seafaring man has occasion sometimes to converse with a pilot, or a linguister, in that language, I should not think so much of it, though we always look with suspicion, even there, at a shipmate who knows too much of the tongue; but up here on Ontario, I hold it to be a most suspicious circumstance." "But Jasper must talk in French to the people on the other shore," said Pathfinder, "or hold his tongue, as there are none but French to speak to." "You don't mean to tell me, Pathfinder, that France lies hereaway on the opposite coast?" cried Cap, jerking a thumb over his shoulder, in the direction of the Canadas; "that one side of this bit of fresh water is York, and the other France!" "I mean to tell you this is York, and that is Upper Canada; and that English and Dutch and Indian are spoken in the first, and French and Indian in the last. Even the Mingos have got many of the French words in their dialect, and it is no improvement, neither." "Very true; and what sort of people are the Mingos, my friend?" inquired the sergeant, touching the other on the shoulder, by way of enforcing a remark, the inherent truth of which sensibly increased its value in the eyes of the speaker; "no one knows them better than yourself, and I ask you what sort of a tribe are they?" Jasper is no Mingo, sergeant." "He speaks French, and he might as well be, in that particular. Brother Cap, can you recollect no movement of this unfortunate young man, in the way of his calling, that would seem to denote treachery?" "Not distinctly, sergeant, though he has gone to work wrong end foremost, half his time. It is true that one of his hands coiled a rope against the sun, and he called it curling a rope, too, when I asked him what he was about; but I am not certain that anything was meant by it-though I dare say the French coil half their running rigging the wrong way, and may call it 'curling it down,' too, for that matter. Then Jasper, himself, belayed the end of the jibhalyards to a stretcher in the rigging, instead of bringing them in to the mast, where they belong, at least among British sailors." "I dare say Jasper may have got some Canada notions about working his craft, from being so much on the other side," Pathfinder interposed, "but catching an idee or a word is n't treachery and bad faith. I sometimes get an idee from the Mingos themselves; but my heart has always been with the Delawares. No, no, Jasper is true; and the king might trust him with his crown, just as he would trust his eldest son, who, as he is to wear it one day, ought to be the last man to wish to steal it." "Fine talking-fine talking," said Cap, rising to spit out of the cabin window, as is customary with men when they most feel their own great moral strength and happen to chew tobacco, "all fine talking, Master Pathfinder, but dd little logic. In the first place, the king's Majesty cannot lend his crown, it being contrary to the laws of the realm, which require him to wear it at all times, in order that his sacred person may be known, just as the silver oar is necessary to a sheriff's officer afloat. In the next place it's high treason by law, for the eldest son of his Majesty ever to covet the crown or to have a child, except in lawful wedlock, as either would derange the succession. Thus you see, friend Pathfinder, that in order to reason truly, one must get under way, as it might be, on the right tack. Law is reason, and reason is philosophy, and philosophy is a steady drag; whence it follows that crowns are regulated by law, reason, and philosophy." "I know little of all this, Master Cap; but nothing short of seeing and feeling will make me think Jasper Western a traitor." "There you are wrong again, Pathfinder, for there is a way of proving a thing much more conclusively than by either seeing or feeling, or by both together: and that is by a circumstance." "It may be so in the settlements; but it is not so here, on the lines." "It is so in nature, which is monarch over all. Now, according to our senses, young Eau-douce is this moment on deck, and by going up there either of us might see and feel him; but, should it afterwards appear that a fact was communicated to the French at this precise moment, which fact no one but Jasper could communicate; why, we should be bound to believe that the circumstance was true, and that our eyes and fingers deceived us. Any lawyer will tell you that." "This is hardly right," said Pathfinder; "nor is it possible, seein' that it is agin fact." "It is much more than possible, my worthy guide; it is law; absolute, king's law of the realm, and as such, to be respected and obeyed. I'd hang my own brother on such testimony; no reflections on the family being meant, sergeant." "God knows how far all this applies to Jasper,though I do believe Mr. Cap is right as to the law, Pathfinder; circumstances being much stronger than the senses on such occasions. We must all of us be watchful, and nothing suspicious should be overlooked." "Now I recollect me," continued Cap, again using the window, "there was a circumstance just after we came on board this evening, that is extremely suspicious, and which may be set down at once as a makeweight against this lad. Jasper bent on the king's ensign with his own hands, and while he pretended to be looking at Mabel and the soldier's wife, giving directions about showing them below, here, and all that, he got the flag union down." "That might have been accident," returned the ser geant, "for such a thing has happened to myself; besides, the halyards lead to a pulley, and the flag would have come right or not, according to the manner in which the lad hoisted it." "A pulley!" exclaimed Cap, with strong disgust, "I wish, Sergeant Dunham, I could prevail on you to use proper terms. An ensign halyard-block is no more a pulley than your halbert is a boarding-pike. It is true, that by hoisting on one part another part would go uppermost; but I look upon that affair of the ensign, now you have mentioned your suspicions, as a circumstance, and shall bear it in mind. I trust supper is not to be overlooked, however, even if we have a hold full of traitors." "It will be duly attended to, brother Cap; but I shall count on you for aid in managing the Scud, should anything occur to induce me to arrest Jasper." "I'll not fail you, sergeant; and in such an event you'll probably learn what this cutter can really perform; for as yet, I fancy it is pretty much matter of guesswork." "Well, for my part," said Pathfinder, drawing a heavy sigh, "I shall cling to the hope of Jasper's innocence, and recommend plain dealing, by asking the lad, himself, without further delay, whether he is or not a traitor. I'll put Jasper Western agin all the presentiments and circumstances in the colony.” "The "That will never do," rejoined the sergeant. responsibility of this affair rests with me, and I request and enjoin that nothing be said to any one, without my knowledge. We will all keep watchful eyes about us, and take proper note of circumstances." “Aye, aye; circumstances are the things after all," returned Cap. "One circumstance is worth fifty facts. That I know to be the law of the realm. Many a man has been hanged on circumstances. وو The conversation now ceased, and after a short delay, the whole party returned to the deck, each individual disposed to view the conduct of the suspected Jasper in the manner most suited to his own habits and character. CHAPTER XIV. Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone, And would have told him, half his Troy was burned. SHAKESPEARE: 2 Henry IV. I. i. 70. ALL this time matters were elsewhere passing in their usual train. Jasper, like the weather, and his vessel, seemed to be waiting for the land breeze; while the soldiers, accustomed to early rising, had, to a man, sought their pallets in the main hold. None remained on deck but the people of the cutter, Mr. Muir, and the two females. The quartermaster was endeavoring to render himself agreeable to Mabel, while our heroine herself, little affected by his assiduities, which she ascribed partly to the habitual gallantry of a soldier, and partly, perhaps, to her own pretty face, was enjoying the peculiarities of a scene and situation that to her were full of the charms of novelty. The sails had been hoisted, but as yet not a breath of air was in motion, and so still and placid was the lake that not the smallest motion was perceptible in the cutter. She had drifted in the river current to a distance a little exceeding a quarter of a mile from the land, and there she lay, beautiful in her symmetry and form, but like a fixture. Young Jasper was on the quarter-deck, near enough to hear occasionally the conversation which passed, but too diffident of his own claim, and too intent on his duties, to attempt to mingle in it. The fine blue eyes of Mabel followed his motions in curious expectation, and more than once the quartermaster had to repeat his compliments, ere she heard them, so intent was she on the little occurrences of the vessel, and, we might add, so indifferent to the eloquence of her companion. length even Mr. Muir became silent, and there was a deep stillness on the water. Presently an oar-blade fell in a boat, beneath the fort, and the sound reached the At |