"It looks hellish to me."
"I'm not going."
"Nor am I."
They promptly reported the decision to their father.
His eyes flamed.
"It's too late to retreat now!"
"We're not going," was the sullen answer in chorus.
The father gripped the two with his hard hands and held them as in a vise.
"You will not put me to shame now before these men. You will go with me—do you hear?"
His tones rang with the quiver of steel and the boys' wills weakened.