"This is just the place."
"The one who survives will be arrested, sah."
"There won't be a survivor, so you needn't fear arrest."
"No survivah, sah?"
"No."
"How is that?"
"I'll tell you how it is. You are such a blamed coward that you won't fight me with your fists, for fear I will give you the thumping you deserve; but you know you are a good pistol shot, and you think I am not, so you hope to shoot me, and escape without harm to yourself. Well, I am no pistol shot, but I am not going to miss you. We'll shoot across that center table, and the width of the table is the distance that will divide us. In that way, I'll stand as good a show as you do, and I'll agree to shoot you through the body very near to the heart, so you'll not linger long in agony. Come, sir, get ready."
Colonel Vallier actually staggered.
"Sah—sah!" he fluttered; "you're shorely crazy!"
"Not a bit of it. Come, get ready!"