“‘All in good time; but you are reputed to be a brave chief, and chiefs should not put themselves into a passion,’ answered Slabface, quite coolly.
“‘I want none of your talk. I say again that you are a cheat and a liar!’ exclaimed Donald, getting more and more angry. ‘Will you fight me like a man, I ask?’
“‘A wise man wouldn’t get into so great a passion about so small a thing,’ said the Redskin, doing his utmost to exasperate Donald. ‘If you wish it I’ll fight to please you, though I think your proposal a foolish one. We will go into the wood and settle the matter.’
“‘Into the wood!’ shouted Donald. ‘By no means. Here as we stand, face to face, like men. Shall we fire together, or shall we draw for the first shot?’
“‘Why, now, indeed, I find that you are a far greater idiot than I supposed,’ exclaimed Slabface, in a tone of scorn. ‘Would any but a fool let his enemy point the muzzle of his gun at him, if he could help it? The Red-men are too wise to do such a thing. It is only foolish Pale Faces that fight thus.’
“‘Why how, in the name of sense, do you want to fight?’ exclaimed Donald. ‘I am inviting you to fight in the way all gentlemen fight in Scotland.’
“‘That shows that the gentlemen are fools,’ answered Slabface. ‘We will fight as all Indian warriors fight. We will go into the wood out there with our guns. You shall get behind one tree, and I will get behind another, and we will fire at each other as we can.’
“‘You are a coward, and afraid!’ cried Donald, turning on his heel.
“‘I am not afraid, but I choose that way of fighting,’ answered the chief, in the same calm tone as at first.
“‘Well, then, you shall have your own way,’ exclaimed Donald, who would not have yielded in any other matter of far less importance.