“Is that what you mean?” again thundered the angry giant, who acted now much as if he had been striving to pick a quarrel with some one.
“I haven’t anything more to say. If you want to pick a fight with some one you had better go on to some other place.”
Rat now was angry and he took no pains to conceal his feelings. As yet he had not recognized Reuben, and the lad was too keenly excited by what was occurring in the camp to call the attention of the quarrelsome man to himself.
“I don’t have to go on. There isn’t any American in this camp that I can’t switch.”
A silence followed the speech of the boastful man and it was not broken until Kit Carson said quietly: “It’s plain you’re not an American. I am, and I demand that you take back what you said.”
[CHAPTER XVIII—A FIGHT]
Instantly a silence that was tense and could almost be felt fell upon the entire camp. All the trappers gazed in surprise first at the tall, awkward boaster and then at Kit Carson, who in comparison with the other man seemed to be little more than a boy in size. Brawls and quarrels were not uncommon among the lonely men, but this was the first time any one had known Kit Carson to join in the petty bickerings of the camp.
Reuben, startled at first by the quiet manner in which his friend had spoken, now looked at him in alarm. It did not seem possible that so slight and light a man as the guide would be able to defend himself against the braggart, who was known as the bully of the West. It is true Rat had no friends among the trappers. Every one had looked upon him as one who talked much but whose deeds were lacking. It was commonly reported that he was better able to tell other men how to trap the beaver than he was to secure the little animals in his own traps.
To the excited Reuben the huge shoulders of the bully looked broader than ever he had seen them before. And yet for some strange reason Rat did not leap forward to attack Kit Carson when the latter in his quiet manner had demanded that he take back his remark that he could “switch any American in the camp.”
The silence, however, was soon broken. Rat hesitated a moment and then, turning abruptly, with long strides walked to his tent. At the actions of the bully Kit Carson also started for his own tent, and every man present understood at once what was about to occur. The two men, who seemed to be so unequally matched, were to fight, and each had gone to his tent for his weapons. This method of settling quarrels was the one commonly used on the border.