"Jamie Stuart and Jack Elliot!" said General Townshend, and instantly several other officers, who had been busily engaged writing dispatches for England, rose and stood at attention. "In the name of His Most Gracious Majesty, King George the Second, I thank you for the eminent services you have rendered to your country. I have appointed you both from this day to be ensigns in the Royal Americans. Here are your commissions. Right nobly have you won them. May you be spared long to serve your country! God save the King!"
The youths were overwhelmed with this generous tribute from so great a soldier. They could find no words to express their gratitude for this signal honour conferred upon them. A commission in His Majesty's victorious army seemed too great a reward for their poor services, so each raised his hand to the salute again and repeated the General's words--
"God save the King!"
The General then turned to the hunter, who had been an interested and sympathetic witness of this stirring scene, but as he spake his voice softened, for he had noticed that down the bronzed cheek of the old man there trickled a tear.
"Frontiersman, what is your name?" he asked.
There was a pause, and for a few seconds the hunter's eyes were turned to Jamie, and a strange far-away look came into his face. Then in a half-broken voice he answered--
"John Stuart of Burnside! An exile!"
"Father!" burst from Jamie's lips, and the next instant the paleface hunter and his son were hugging each other with joy.
The next moment General Townshend advanced to the hunter, and pinning the King's medal upon his breast, he said--
"He is no longer an exile who wears this honoured decoration. John Stuart, I thank you for the work you have already done, but there are still further services that I wish to ask of you. I understand that your knowledge of the river and the forest from this point to Mont Royale is unsurpassed by that of any person in the camp. Your knowledge will shortly be invaluable to us. I appoint you as Frontiersman and Chief Guide to the British Army in the Canadas, and, furthermore, I desire to say that His Majesty shall be reminded after the war of the important services which I trust you will then have rendered to your country."