"Who is your principal?" exclaimed the landlord. "A man who comes into my house to turn it upside down! Gets into a muss with a monkey as soon as he arrives! Pretends he wants to fight Captain Bragg and then hides himself like a white-livered poltroon in the bottom of a well! Amuses himself by running and racing among the ladies like a naked Caliban and frightening my female boarders out of their wits! I'll give him satisfaction,—the ugly brute!"
The landlord began to ascend the stairway, breathing vengeance against Botts. Wiggins caught him by the tail of his coat and called out, "Hold! hold! I command the peace!"
"Are you a magistrate?" said the landlord.
"No; but I am a good citizen, and in the name of the law I command the peace!"
"Let me go!" said the landlord, flourishing his cudgel. "Let me go! If you tear my coat-tail off, I will——"
Here a number of ladies appeared on the upper landing and opposed a barrier of beauty between the landlord and Botts, whose ugly visage was seen in their rear. Several gentlemen were in the corridor at the foot of the stairway, and among them a fat and funny little fellow, who stood gazing at the scene with a most comical expression of countenance. The landlord struggled to get free, but Wiggins held on to the tail of his coat with the tenacity of a terrier.
"Let me go, I say!" shouted Boniface, shaking his cudgel at Botts.
The ladies screamed and Botts looked amazed. Suddenly a voice was heard issuing from the mouth of the challenger, exclaiming, "Save me, ladies! oh, save me! save me!"
"What! begging, you ugly beast!" exclaimed the landlord. "Yes, you had better beg!"
"Oh, ladies!" exclaimed Botts, in piteous tones. "Don't let him murder me! I put myself under your protection!"