"Refuse! certainly not. I will fight with a harpoon if you so choose, or a gun loaded with Greek fire."

"Or hot water," suggested Seddon.

"To be sure," said Bragg.

"Captain Bragg, would you really fight with a gun loaded with hot water?" inquired Toney.

"Mr. Belton," said Bragg, "he is a poor workman who finds fault with his tools. I will face my antagonist with any weapon which he is not afraid to hold in his own hand."

"Very good," said Belton. "And now I must leave you with Mr. Seddon, while I have an interview with Wiggins, who, it seems, is Botts's second."

Toney took up his hat and left the room, as Bragg was in the act of poising a cane for the purpose of showing Seddon how to hurl a boomerang.

FOOTNOTE:

[2] The theory of an eloquent lecturer in a discourse recently delivered in Boston.