“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.
“Never mind!” he exclaimed in the most arrogant manner. “It is anyhow
pretty hard to accuse an honest man of a crime, because his voice
resembles the voice of a rascal.”