The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1882-04-13

vowed he would never go out with m
again so long as he lived; he stampe,
and danced about, and | must sa,
made great fool of himself. | an
quite sure that if I had conducted my
self after that fashion everybody pres
ent would simply have roared will
laughter; but none Of us laughed a
Percival. The fact is that there wa
something rather terrible about tn,
man, though [ don't know that
could exactly say in what it consisted
At length its fury spent itself, anc
we set off sadly and solemnly to re
turn to the valley, Jean-Pierre and
hanging our heads like naughty boys
the rest Of the Jeans and Pierres anc
Jean-Pierres slouching after us with
somewhat scared faces, and Perciva
striding along by himself in deer
dudgeon.
The day was not to end without
another breeze. In the course Of the
afternoon it was suddenly discovered
that we were out of everything
There was no tea left, no bread, and
not drop of wine. Why these de-
fcienciAs had not been mentioned to
us before we set out for Luchon
where we could easily have laid in a
fresh stock of provisions, I don't
know; but Jean said he thought
Pierre had told us, and Pierre thought
Jean had spoken. and Jean-Pierre had
not considered it his business to inter-
fere; and so there was a good all
round wrangle, in the midst of which
Percival worked himself mp into one
of his paroxysms. All that was nee
essary was that one man should be
sent down to VenAsque, the nearest
Spanish town, to get what we reqnir-
ed; but this would not satisfy him.
He declared that every one of them
should 90. and that they should walk
all night. so as to be back before our
breakfast hour in the morning.
"AlAz-vous-en. the whole lot of
you" he shouted. "Entendez-vous?
-ie veux etre seul. Take yourselves
off. you lazy. garlic-eating devils. and
let's have a little peace for one night"
The whole troop marched away
without much protestation. I dare
say they are not sorry to escape from
this raving Englishman. Afterwards
[ wondered whether Percival had had
a deliberate design in his mind when
he dismissed them; but. looking back
upon it all, [ am inclined to think
that he had not, and that what fol-
lowed was the result Of mere accident
and opportunity.
He was quiet enough. though por-
tentonsly gloomy. until the time came
for us to partake of our evening meal.
We had to collect the wood for our
bonfire ourselves, and nice mess we
made of it. All this was sufficiently
uncomfortable, and did not serve to
improve my friends temper; but the
worst was to come. Being without
wine. we were obliged to fall back
upon brandy-and-water for our drink,
and | noticed with some uneasiness
that Percival was making no use of
the water at all. At last I rather
foolishly ventured upon a gentle re-
whereupon he promptly
filled his glass with raw brandy, and
tossed it off at draught.
You're devilish hard fellow to
please. Oliver, must say he re-
marked. "One would have thought
you'd have been satisfied with spoil
ing my sport, and not wanted to spoil
my dinner into the bargain. Deuce
take it all, man; you don't suppose
I'm going to let you tell me what I'm
to drink, do you?"
The upshot of it was that by the
time that we turned in he was any
thing but sober, thou gh he was able
to keep his legs and to talk without
knocking his words together.
Got your revolver?" he called out,
just as | was dropping off to sleep.
We thought it AS well to have re-
volvers always handy, for we have
heard no very good report of the
sparse inhabitants of those valleys.
"Oh, yes; all right" l replied.
Goodnight. And | rolled over on
my side.
But | had hardly closed my eyes
before he disturbed me again by ask
ing suddenly: Il say, Oliver, did you
ever fight duel?"
Fight duel?' repeated drowsily.
No, never; did you?"
No" he answered in a cool, casual
sort of tone; ''but | don't see why |
shouldn't fight one now. think |
will"
That woke me up. "What are you
talking about?" exclaimed. Who
are you going to fight with here?"
why, with you, of course" said
he. I'm not afraid. Now then
mind yourself" And without more
ado be suited the action to the word.
A flash, a loud report, and the
whistling of a bullet past my ear
brought me to realizing sense of the
pleasant position that | was IN. was
out of the tent and behind the big
gest rock that | could find before you
could have said "Knifer" My MINI
bIeness astonished myself. Mercifully
there was no moon, and the red glare
of our camp fire only served to make
the shadows blacker.
Percival blundered out after me,
cursing and swearing. Stand up,
you skulking devil!' he roared. why
don't you stand up and fight like a
man." And bang went another bar
cel.
Now this time" said he with tipsy
solemnity, I'm going to take Il care
full aim and hit you. Oh, | see you,
you beggar.-don't you hatter your
self that you're invisible"
The worst Of it was that | was by
no means sure that he didn't see me
He advanced with slow, unsteady
steps, and began prowling around my
rock, while |, crouching upon all fours
lodged him by a succession of noise
less hops, like a huge toad. Bang