Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 483 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

q pre’ My _ > ' * al. a ow ss ~ 5 ~ pe ae Ww <2. \ te Rs fellow.” 6 i to anybody but Charley Taintor and his wife.’ ‘“*Then I must ask you to serve me in this matter. Will you act as my second?” “*T will gladly do anything in my power to oblige you, Mr. Henning, but I don’t want to help you into your grave.” ** I will look out for that end of the Jine.” ** Where do I come in, Fred?” Ben Stanniford wanted to know. ‘* Have you gone back on me as a friend?” * No, indeed, my boy; but you don’t come in as the kind of friend I want for this little emergency, unless you may show up in the ca- acity of a mourner at the graveyard end of the ine.’ “‘This is- nota thing to joke about, Mr. Hen- | ning,” protested the landlord. ‘* Major Stacey comes of dueling stock, and he has the reputa- tion of being a sure shot.” ‘That is just what I claim to be,” observed Flush Fred. Se looks tome as if he means to kill you, 7 “Tt looks to me as if I am sure to kill him, if he comes to the scratch.” ‘* This promises, then, to be a serious affair.” “Tt will be a serious affair, in my opinion, for Major Stacey. If you will come up to my room, Mr. Taintor, we will settle the details of the encounter. Don’t worry about me, Ben, as you shall be posted in the arrangements as soon as they are completed.” Ben Stanniford was not at all satisfied with this disposition of affairs; but he perceived that it would be useless for him to object to what his friend did or proposed to do, and he gazed mourn- ; just that, and nothing else—and he means to fully after Fred and the landlord as they went | stick to them. Whether he is a gentleman or to their consultation. not, lam ready to bet that he is clear grit all other Staceys present were astonished Bidwdctl, Veh the wer of utterance. Phose are his terms,” continued Charley Taintor, who could not help enjoying the situa- tion toa certain extent, ‘‘and he insists upon their acceptance, and says that the sooner the affair comes off, the better he will be pleased.” ‘* Do you know what you are saying, sah?” demanded Colonel Jeff. “If I am not mistaken in the words you used, ‘it seems to me that you must be joking. ees ‘*That’s it,” joined in the major. ‘Charley is—ah—trying to run a saw on us, as I may = But you should remembah, Mr. Taintah, sa that you are dealing with gentlemen, sah, and that joking on a subject of this nachah, sah, don’t go—it don’t go at all, sah.” This style of talk put Charley Taintor on his mettle. ‘*T reckon I know how to deal with men,” said he. “If I don’t, 1t is rather entile- ate in the day for me to learn, and I am not asking anybody to teach me.” “Your friend Henning, then, should remem- ber that he is dealing with gentlemen. m ‘* Well, sir, as you “don’t consider him a gentle- man, I can’t see that you have any call to worry about his ways. For all I know, he may have as bad an opinion of you as you have of bim. Anyhow, I can assure you as a solid fact that there is no sign of a joke in what hesays. He means business, and is ready to step right up to the rack, fodder or no fodder.” “ Such terms were never heard of among gentlemen,” protested Colonel Stacey. ‘*They are Fred Henning’s terms, though— Fred Henning briefly stated the terms upon the’ way through.” which he pr ae to fight the duel with Major ‘‘This is barbarous, sah, abominably bar- Stacey, and Charley Taintor raised his voice in | barous. It means nothing less than murder.” horrified protest. ‘‘Not on Mr. Henning’s part. He gives the | ** That will be murder,” he exclaimed. major the same chances that he takes for him- | “What of it?” replied Henning. “If the | self. As the major is a dead shot, my man | man wants to murder me, I have an equal right | wants to be a dead shot, too,” to try and murder him.” ‘* The terms are quite ‘inadmissible, sah.” ** It will be suicide.” ‘“‘Of course they are,” broke in the major. ** There will be one less Stacey in Staceyville, | ‘‘ Entirely inadmissible. » though that don’t count for much among so ‘* Very well, then. many. The truth is, Mr. Taintor, ve got to | withdraw your challenge, and the affair will be | make a stand against these Staceys. They want | settled as far as you are concerned. Mr. Hen- to back me down, and if I allow one of them to | ning seems to know his rights and to be deter- do it, every Stacey in Staceyville will feel him himself licensed to kick me. They have put this Major Stacey forward to down me, and I must make him sick of his job or throw up the | sponge.” After some persuasion Charley Taintor con- cage to act as the second of the up-river man, roceeded to the hostile camp to arrange | oe the encounter. He found Major Stacey attended by Colonel Jeff Stacey and several other Staceys, and his statement of the intentions of their common ad- versary fell among them like a bombshell. **T have come at the request of Mr. Fred Henning,” said he, ‘‘ to act as his second in his difficulty with Major Stacey. I wanted to keep out of the scrape; but I was the only acquaint- ance the man bad in town, and he insisted that I should serve.” ‘‘ It would have been better for him to leave town,” suggested Colonel Jeff. “Thave no doubt that it would have been better under the circumstances,” ‘* You might have advised him to do so,” ‘Oh, I gave him plenty of good advice, but it was all thrown away. Heseems to be crazy for a fight.” ‘*That is highly satisfactory,” put in Major Stacey. ‘‘If he wantsa fight, he shall be ac- commodated to his heart’s content. Now, Mr. Taintor, if you will arrange the terms with Col- onel Stacey, we will soon settle the case of that the meeting, and he has dictated them. If they | don’t suit you, you can throw up your hand and quit the game.” This put a very serious face on the affair, and the Staceys found themselves in an unexpected predicament. The obnoxious person had not run away as he should have done, and was evidently determined not to be killed in a duel without killing his an- tagonist. loody and barbarous as his terms were, they were not ‘* inadmissible” in the dueling sense, and he had a right to insist upon them. Nobody could have supposed that any man would deliberately shut ont every chance of escaping alive from such an encounter; but that was just what Fred Henning had done. It would have been much better to raise a mob of Staceys and drive him out of town; but it was then too late for that, and the pr esent emergency must be met in some way. To withdraw the challenge would be such a back-down and confession of weakness as would destroy the fair reputation of Major Stacey as a professed duelist, and at the same time make a hero of the very objectionable inter- lo Nothing could be worse than that—unless, indeed, the certain death of Major Stacey if he should accede to the terms proposed. As this was a matter that required considera- _ tion, Colonel Jeff asked for a little time, to allow him to consult with Major Stacey and bis _ friends, Charley Taintor left them to themselves; but ‘* still he lingered near,” like Mary’s little lamb, feeling pretty confident jus ust then that his guest would come out of the affair with flying colors, The pros and cons of the case were stated by Colonel Jeff witb consideralLle exactness and detail, but with one important exception—he made no allusion to the certain death of the two duelists in the event of the duel. “It’s no use talking,” declared the major, who was nervously impatient while this argu- ment was going on. ‘‘ There is only one ane to do, as Charley Taintor says, and that is withdraw the challenge.” “That is out of the question!” protested the the Staceys present 2 ‘“*T suppose he understands that Major Stacey is a dead shot,” observed Colonel Jeff, ‘He seems to think that there will be two dead shots in the affair,” answered the landlord, **and I don’t know but he may be right, under the circumstances, as I said.” ** His cheek would stop a bullet, I suppose; but I don’t see any other chance for him under any circumstances. What are the terms then? Pistols at ten paces? He surely can’t have the aie sah, to demand a bigger distance than ‘* He don’t. He wants a less distance.” What's that,sah? A less distance? What do you mean by a less distance than ten paces?” He proposes to fight Major Stacey with re- volvers at two paces, the men to fire at the word across a handkerchief.” CHAPTER VIII. colonel, and the rest o echoed him. THE DUEL. “T don’t see how it is out of the question,” To characterize this statement as a bomb- | peevishly replied the major. ‘If you can’t per- shell would be to describe it weakly and in- adecuately. ay, like a gentleman, I don’t propose to fight If a mine bad been exploded under the him? - ‘ : “a Staceys, the effect could hardly have been more | “You can’t mean that, major! The affair is appalling not to be shuffled off in that way. That you, a Sp ips purple face, turned livid, Col- | hero of the Mexican war, a man who has a eff stared aghast at the speaker, and the reputation all over Mississippi for being as fear- suade or force that fellow to fight in a civilized A a onel Flush Fred, the River Sharp, - st snes EE Ei 3 | i. af less as he is skillful, should weaken and back down before a person ‘of that class, a Northern mudsill, a common river gambler, is simply im- possible. € **T don’t see any impossibility about it.” ** Just think of the hole it would put us in.” ** Just think of the hole it is sure to put me in if I go on with it.” ** Think of the credit and honor of the Staceys, That is what you’ve got to main- ‘Who will maintain the credit and honor of the Staceys when Iam in my grave? Are any of you ready to doit? Ifso, you can take this job off my hands.” ‘* That is impossible, major, as you know, It | was you who Issned tbe cha llenge, and the man would not accept a substitute.” ‘*How do you know he wouldn’t? Suppose you offer yourself, Jeff.” ** He would never admit such an offer. Be- sides, major, Iam a married man, and you have neither wife nor children depende nt on you. It is my notion, now, that if you carry a stiff upper lip, and agree to the man’s terms, or make them worse if you can, he will back out when he comes to the scratch,” ‘**T wish I could believe that.” After considerable persuasion Major Stacey put himself in the hands of his second, and con- sented to go on and sacrifice himself for ‘‘ the credit and honor of the Staceys,” though it was sufficiently evident to his relatives there present that his heart was not in the work. Charley Taintor was called in and informed of the conclusion at which the conclave had ar- rived. If there was any special exhibition of ‘‘stiff upper lip” on that occasion, 1t was given by him, rather than by Major Stacey or any of the other Staceys. He Reclatot that his friend would be delighted to learn that his terms had been finally accept- ed, and went away in apparent high spirits, eg Bae he was glum enough when he got back to the hotel. He gave Fred Henning a detailed account of his negotiations, together with the opinion that | the Staceys had been so backward in coming for- All you bave todo is to | ward as to make it sure that they were not a bit: inclined to fight. Still, the fact remained that they had finally accepted Henning’s terms, and that the duel was mined to stand on them. As the challenged | arranged to take place at ‘five o'clock the next party it is his business to dictate the terms of | morning. ‘*)t is settled, then,” remarked Flush Fred, s and the rest of the business is simple.” “*T am not sure that it is such a very simple matter,” replied Taintor. ‘‘ They were so very slow about penne your terms, that I am afraid they mean to play roots on us in some = © € Lal them play what they please, I never saw the game yet that | was not Ee Oe take a hand in, and [ can assure you, Mr. Taintor, that if I don’t get away from them alive, there will be at least one Stacey less in Stacey- ville.” On this point Fred Henning was set as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar, and the landlord, who had become heartily bis friend, was soon con- Mf a that no arguments would avail with m Ben Stanniford was very anxious to know the turn the affair had taken, and his anxiety was ot decreased when his friend took him into his confidence. He persisted in expressing his belief that it was for his sake Flush Fred was expenine him- self to certain deatb, and earnestly protested against the sacrifice; but his entreaties were as useless as Charley Taintor’s arguments, ‘Tam going into thison my own account, and it is all settled,” declared Fred. ‘* Here is my will, and I want you to take careof it. I have no near kin, and the little that I own will go to the child of a dead friend of mine. Soit is settled, Ben,” ‘Tt is not settled. This must not goon. I can’t bear to think of it.” ‘*T understand you, Ben, and you know that you area friend of whom I am very fond; but you must also understand that in this matter I allow no man to interfere with me. When m bead is set upon doing anything, that is what am sure to do,” ‘‘T mean to see you Foxouet this a a though, as far as I can, and I wiil be on hand the morning.” ‘“*T wish you would not, Ben. To speak plain- ly, there is a chance of a disturbance to morrow morning, and I think that you, for the sake of the ye bog lady up there in the Stacey house, ought to keep yourself safe. I do wish that you would stay awey from the difficulty.” This did not prevent Ben Stanniford from being on hand in the morning, as he had said he would be, and he was not t ie only person who was there to look after the interests of Henning. Charley Taintor, fearing oe be had said that there might be an attempt to ‘play roots” on guest, had notified a few of his friend th ad atch in any way connected with the Stacey family, to be present and overlook the Gori and they were there. CeCe pale ~~ > nis —_— JOO