Under Fire: A Tale of the Shenandoah Valley — page 76: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE PURSUIT AND RESULT. ; 69 He swerved his horse around, and made off by the road he had come. , Seeing but one man now coming upon him, and scorning to shoot him down in what seemed to him cold blood, Chetwood reined in his horse. : ‘““Fool,’’ he muttered, ‘‘he comes to his death !”’ The colonel dashed up and discharged his revolver at that range. But what effect can excited, tremulous nerves im- part to one’s aim. The bullet went wide of its mark. Indeed, Royal almost felt inclined to laugh, for he easily saw that the man was fairly beside himself. The colonel now drew his sabre. That was a challenge the captain accepted at once. They were but a few yards apart when Royal rec- ognized his opponent. ‘(Trafton !’’ he exclaimed. “Ay, you scoundrel! On your guard! Itis your life or mine!’’ “Be it so,’’ said the captain, ‘‘though I had rather engage with a stranger.”’ “T owe you a long-standing grudge, Royal Chet- wood, and it will not be my fault if I fail to pay the score now.’ ‘(And I should be glad to avenge the injury you did my friend, were it not that war is too serious a matter to be used as a cover for the settlement of per- sonal feuds.’ Their swords came together with a crash. The sunlight flashed upon the quivering blades. — Parry and lunge it was, in quick succession. And here again Chetwood showed an immense su- periority over his antagonist, whose rage and hate alone had urged him to the encounter. Royal stood mostly on the defensive. He simply played with the colonel, Ecomicbooks (e(0) m