The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-02-14

) had never fought a duel in my life.
never had fred of q pistol more than 81,
, times, and, II my memory served me,
had not, on either Of those occasions, sue
ceeded In hitting anything. Astoeayalr,
sabres, I scarcely knew one when ] saw
II. We were fifteen hundred miles from
from the nearest land. could not rur
away, that was clear. II met this Zero
cious monster, with his horribly sugges'
tive n~ame-Klgore-and undertook Y
fight him on his own ground, with his
own professional weapon, he would
ewing" me, II he did not kill me outright,
and / would be laid up for the remainder
OF the voyage, and thus debarred from all
further intercourse with Miss Bertrand,
whom the colonel would have all to him.
self. II failed to appear OF the time and
place appointed, / would be published as
q coward, and would be lost In Miss Der.
trand's estimation forever. Worst OF all
was the thought that already l had offend
ed her past all forgiveness.
But-ah! AhappY thought! The duel
could be stopped by the officers Of the
ship. l would write an anonymous letter
to the captain Of the steamer, informing
him OF the proposed meeting. By that
means my reputation for courage would
be sustained, and no bodily harm would
occur to any one. l jumped up with the
greatest alacrity and got out my writing
materials. There was nj time to be lost.
In ten minutes / had indited my brief
epistle, and was IN my way to the main
deck.
All was quiet above. The passengers
had mostly retired to rest. On the bridge
an officer paced silently to and fro, and
the ship rolled easily over the long, regu-
lar swell. The deck-watch were forward,
on the forecastle. From the window oil
the captains room q light streamed forth,
and, stealing softly aft, l saw him at his
table. bending over a chart. l d~exterous-
ly SHE'D my letter through the window,
and hastily retreated to the cabin. On my
way down the staircase l met Kilgore
coming up. / passed him with'a con.
temptuous stare, and made my way to my
own room.
So far all was well. At twelve o'clock l
knocked at the door OF Colonel Kilgore's
room-No. 45-and was admitted by Cap
tain Gilhooly. Kilgore was there, dress.
ed only in his shirt and pantaloons. /
nodded 10 him grimly, and seating myself
began to whistle while l took off my boots.
''These are the TOOLS" said Gilhooly,
producing an enormous pair OF cavalry
sabres, and laying them IN the table.
They've an edge like a razor"
glanced at them carelessly. "Shall We
lock the koor?" Iasked.
"By no MEANS" exclaimed the Colonel,
starting forward hastily. "This must not
look like a secret assassination. This Is
nothing to be ashamed Of"
"Quite right" l said, feeling much re-
lieved. II would prefer the door closed,
but not locked"
To tell the truth l began. to fell no little
anxiety. II the duel was to be interrupt
ed it was high time the interruption took
place. II the captain had read my letter,
where was he?
CHOOSE your weapons, gintlemen"
said Gilhooly, and l stepped forward and
selected n with much apparent care.
The Colonel having taken the other, the
valiant Gilhooly placed us in position and
retired to a corner out Of harms way.
snow, them" said he, sat the word
three you will begin; one-two--" but
he had no opportunity to proceed further,
for the door was thrown suddenly open,
and a quartermaster appeared, followed
by two OF the cabin stewards. In an in
slant we were disarmed and the sabres
were confiscated.
Gentlemen" said the quartermaster,
"this cannot be permitted"
Kilgore was perfectly frantic with rage
and disappointment, struggling and fight.
ing,with the stewards for the possession Of
his weapon. Mott be b~ehindhand in that
sort OF thing, l stamped and raved like a
maniac. In fact, l created such a disturb
ance, that the officer and Gilhooly finally
forcibly elected me from the room, which
was precisely what l chiefly desired, and
filling the air with threats Of vengeance on
our arrival in Liverpool.
was not long in discovering next morn
ing that the news Of our bloodless encoun-
ter had spread all over the ship. The
ladies smiled a%pproviugly when l made
my appearance, and several Of the gentle
men came forward and shook hands with
me. Colonel Kilgore was no less a hero,
and held for half an hour a separate leyee
OF his own. I looked anxiously around
for Miss Bertrand, but she did not appear
at breakfast. At luncheon time, however,
she entered the dining saloon, looking, II
possible, more ravishingly and bewitch-
ingly beautiful than ever.
"Oan you forgive me?"I whispered,
when she had taken her usual seat beside
me.
"a woman can forgive almost anything
Ito a brave man, she replied. "Have you
not risked your life for my sake?"
ga mere trifle," l said. ITO have died
for you would have been" but a look
in the brown eyes checked me. 10 make
love at a luncheon table, in a room full oil
people, would have been difficult, II not
impossible. The passengers were nearly
all in their places, the stewards were be-
hind our chairs, and Colonel Kilgore was
savagely cycling us opposite. At that
moment a diversion was caused by the
unexpected entrance OF Mr.. Bertrand, who
had hitherto been invisible since the COM
mencement OF the voyage. He was very
red in the face, and was holding his sides
as though in exquisite pain. He staggered
towards the table, andholding to the back
Of his chair, cried out, between explosions
OF laughter:
"It's the biggest-ha, ha, ha-thing ]
ever heard Of in my life. 10, ho-such q
10 hokel The captain told the first officer,
and he-he, he.e-e-told me. Colonel
Kilgore, here, challenges q man to fight q
duel-ha!-and then-oh, dear me-sendf
10 the captain Of the ship and gets him to
prevent IL"
at Is false, STRIP reared Kilgore, spring
ing to his feet, in which action he was fol-
lowed by Captain Gilhooly.
mo, It isn't" returned the old gentle
man; "you gnve a dollar to jim, the
steward There, tosnform the captain that
duel was going 10 be ioughtin your room,
and-he!-the captain made him tell who
sent him, and he said it was YOU"
The excitement produced by this an
nouncement was intense. Jim, the stew
ard, disappeared in the direction Of thu
- IEGN