"Well, as you are aware, I am not accustomed to make long speeches."
"I am listening to you."
"Why play with the butt of your pistol so? Vengeance is only real when complete. A shot fired would be the signal for your death, for you would be surrounded and attacked on all sides at once before you had even time to place a foot in the stirrup. You allow this, I suppose?"
"To the point, Master Davis, for I am in a hurry."
"You admit," the other said, with his old stoicism, "that I am seeking no unworthy subterfuge to avoid a meeting with you?"
"I know that you are a brave man."
"Thanks! I do not discuss the validity of the reason which makes you wish to exchange bullets with me: a pretext is nothing with men like ourselves. I pledge my word to be at your disposal on any day, and at any hour you please, with or without witnesses. Does that suit you?"
"Would it not be better to mount, gallop into the plain that stretches out before us, and settle the affair at once?"
"I should like to do so, but, unfortunately, I must, for the present, deprive myself of the pleasure. I repeat to you that we cannot fight, at least not at this moment."
"But the reason, the reason?" the young man exclaimed, with feverish impatience.