He turned on his heel and walked rapidly home. He looked at his watch. It was two o’clock in the morning.
“We will fight it out on the old lines,” he said to McLeod next day.
“You will find me a pretty good fighter.”
“Unto death, let it be,” answered Gaston firmly setting his lips.
“I admire your pluck, but I’m sorry for your judgment. You know you’re beaten before you begin.”
“Defeat that’s seen has lost its bitterness before it comes.”
“Then get ready the flowers for the funeral. I hoped you would have better sense. You are one of the men now I ’ll have to crush first, thoroughly, and for all time. I’m not afraid of the old fools. I ’ll be fair enough to tell you this,” said McLeod.
“Not since Legree’s day has the Republican party had so dangerous a man at its head,” said Gaston thoughtfully to himself as McLeod strode away across the square. “He has ten times the brains of his older master, and none of his superstitions. He will give me a hard fight.”