"I'm fearing I'm late," Asgill said, as he took his seat. "Where'll The McMurrough be, I wonder?"
"Gone to meet your friend, I should think," Payton replied with a sneer.
Asgill maintained a steady face. "My friend?" he repeated. "Oh, Colonel Sullivan?"
"Yes, your friend who was to return to-day," the other retorted. "Have you seen anything of him?" he continued, with a grin.
Asgill fixed his eyes steadily on Payton's face. "I'm fancying you have the advantage of me," he said. "More by token, I'm thinking, Major, you have seen that same friend already."
"Maybe I have."
"And had a bout with him?"
"Eh?"
"And, faith, had the best of the bout, too!" Asgill continued coolly, and with his eyes fixed on the other's features, as if his one aim was to see if he had hit the mark. "So much the best that I'll be chancing a guess he's upstairs at this moment, and wounded! Leastwise, I hear you and the young lady brought him to the house between you, and him scarcely able to use his ten toes."
Payton, with his mouth open, glared at the speaker in a manner that at another time must have provoked him to laughter.