"
"There are not many men who would like to try it," the captain said. "I
say honestly I shouldn't, myself. Anything in the nature of duty,
whether it's laying your ship alongside a Frenchman of twice her weight
of metal, or a boat expedition to cut out a frigate from under the guns
of the battery, I should be ready to take my share in; but an
expedition like yours, to be carried out alone, in cold blood and in
the dark, I should have no stomach for. I don't want to discourage you,
and I honour your courage in undertaking it; but I am heartily glad
that the general did not propose to me, instead of to you, to undertake
it."
"You would have done it if he had, sir," James said, smiling, "and so
would any officer of this expedition. I consider myself most highly
honoured in the general entrusting me with the mission. Besides, you
must remember that it is not so strange, to me, as it would be to most
men. I have been for four years engaged in forest warfare, scouting at
night in the woods, and keeping my ears open to the slightest sound
which might tell of a skulking redskin being at hand. My eyes have
become so accustomed to darkness, that, although still very far short
of those of the Indians, I can see plainly where one unaccustomed to
such work would see nothing.
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