"We've got to go back to first principles, jist as I supposed we would when you got talkin' 'bout mildness and strategy——"
"Explain yourself, Badger."
"You and me must face the music, Mr. Shirley."
"Face the music?" stammered Shirley.
"Yes, thar's nothin' else to be did."
"Explain yourself, Badger."
"You and me must creep up the rock on the other side, while Jake and Ned stand off to the east and keep up a fire on the top, so as to distract attention from the p'int we're after. Do you see?"
Shirley said he saw very clearly; but from his manner it was very evident he did not look with approval on this plan of assault.
Physically and morally Frank Shirley was a coward, and though he tried to hide this fact from others, he could not hide it from himself.
But even cowards will fight desperately for their lives, and all Shirley's future, if not his very existence, depended on the success of this monstrous undertaking.