Quite pallid with fright, the accused simply said,—
“The officer must be mistaken.”
“I think not,” replied the magistrate.
Turning to Daniel, he asked him,—
“Do you persist in your declaration, lieutenant?”
“More than ever, sir; I declare upon honor that I recognize the man’s voice. When he offered me a boat, he spoke a kind of almost unintelligible jargon, a mixture of English and Spanish words; but he did not think of changing his intonation and his accent.”
Affecting an assurance which he was far from really feeling, Crochard, surnamed Bagnolet, shrugged his shoulders carelessly, and said,—
“Do I know any English? Do I know any Spanish?”
“No, very likely not; but like all Frenchmen who live in this colony, and like all the marines, you no doubt know a certain number of words of these two languages.”
To the great surprise of the doctor and of Daniel, the prisoner did not deny it; it looked as if he felt that he was on dangerous ground.