"Wa-on-mon has pledged himself to be there when the sun rises, and I have given him my pledge that you will not be behind him."
"I'll be there!" said Kenton in a low voice, and with a deliberation that made his earnestness the more impressive. "It's the chance I've been huntin' for years."
"The agreement is that each of you is to be armed only with his knife. No one is to be present—not even myself. If Wa-on-mon wins by slaying you, then Mr. Ashbridge's little child must die."
"And if I win?"
"I am to take her back to her parents unharmed."
"You've said 'nough, parson; I'll be there."
The missionary did not know whether to accept it as a good or bad omen that Kenton, contrary to The Panther, and contrary to his own habit, made no boast of what he would do upon meeting the chieftain.
"No danger of his flunking, I hope, parson?"
"Not the slightest; but, Simon, may I say one word?"
"You may say a thousand."