“I won't fight him,” replied he to whom they spoke, and the uncertainty of his manner was taken for want of courage.
“Then,” said Meehaul, “here, before witnesses, I give you the coward, that you may carry the name to the last hour of your life.”
He inflicted, when uttering the words, a blow with his open hand on Lamh Laudher's cheek, after which he desired the spectators to bear witness to what he had done. The whole crowd was mute with astonishment, not a murmur more was heard; but they looked upon the two rival champions, and then upon each other with amazement. The high-minded young man had but one course to pursue. Let the consequence be what it might, he could not think for a moment of compromising the character of Ellen, nor of violating his promise, so solemnly given; with a flushed cheek, therefore, and a brow redder even with shame than indignation, he left the crowd without speaking' a word, for he feared that by indulging in any further recrimination on the subject, his resolution might give way under the impetuous resentment which he curbed in with such difficulty.
Meehaul Neil paused and looked after him, equally struck with surprise and contempt at his apparent want of spirit.
“Well,” he exclaimed to those who stood about him, “by the life within me, if all the parish had sworn that Lamh Laudher Oge was a coward, I'd not a b'lieved them!”
“Faix, Misther Neil, who would, no more, than yourself?” they replied; “devil the likes of it ever we seen! The young fellow that no man could stand afore five minutes!”
“That is,” replied others, “bekase he never met a man that would fight him. You see when he did, how he has turned out. One thing any how is clear enough—after this he can never rise his head while he lives.”
CHAPTER III.
Meehaul now directed his steps homewards, literally stunned by the unexpected cowardice of his enemy. On approaching his father's door, he found Nell M'Collum seated on a stone bench, waiting his arrival. The moment she espied him she sprang to her feet, and with her usual eagerness of manner, caught the breast of his coat, and turning him round towards the moonlight, looked eagerly into his face.