related, while he did feel it was unusual, not to say
disgraceful, that he himself now heard of them for the first time.
    »As for moccasins, Master Cap,« he said, when a short pause invited him to
speak, »they may be worn by pale faces, as well as by red skins, it is true,
though they never leave the same trail on the foot of one, as on the foot of the
other. Any one who is used to the woods, can tell the footstep of an Injin, from
the footstep of a white man, whether it be made by a boot, or a moccasin. It
will need better evidence than this, to make me believe that Jasper is false.«
    »You will allow, Pathfinder, that there are such things in the world, as
traitors,« put in Cap logically.
    »I never knew an honest-minded Mingo; one that you could put faith in, if he
had a temptation to deceive you. Cheatin' seems to be their gift, and I
sometimes think they ought to be pitied for it, rather than parsecuted.«
    »Then why not believe that this Jasper may have the same weakness? A man is
a man, and human nature is sometimes but a poor concern, as I know by
experience; I may say we all know by experience; at least I speak for my own
human nature.«
    This was the opening of another long and desultory conversation, in which
the probability of Jasper's guilt or innocence was argued, pro and con, until
both the serjeant and his brother-in-law, had nearly reasoned themselves into
settled convictions, in favor of the first, while their companion grew sturdier
and sturdier in his defense of the accused, and still more fixed in his opinions
of his being unjustly charged with treachery. In this there was nothing out of
the common course of things, for there is no more certain way of arriving at any
particular notion, than by undertaking to defend it, and among the most
obstinate of our opinions, may be classed those which are derived from
discussions in which we affect to search for truth, while in reality we are only
fortifying prejudice. By this time, the serjeant had reached a state of mind
that disposed him to view every act of the young sailor with distrust, and he
soon got to coincide with his relative in deeming the peculiar knowledge of
Jasper, in reference to the spies, a branch of information that certainly did
not come within the circle of his regular duties, as a circumstance