Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1885-07-23
In other words you must fight


A smile played over his gentle coun-
tenance. "Lord bless you, Cap'pen,"
said he, "sen' dat note right of; 1 kin
butt dat niger ter pieces"
THAT won't do. said sternly; "as
gentleman you must fight him with
gentleman's weapons. You must
challenge him to fight you with pis.
tolls"
His face turned shade paler and he
hesitated. turned on him quickly,
drew my chair close to him and said
impressively: "'Nias, there is tide
in the affairs of love-sick niggers,
which, taken at the flood, leads on to
marriage. / know Ju well. he is a
terrible coward. and will run just as
soon as you present your pistol at him.
Miss Sophy will hear of it. All wo-
men despise towards. She will kick
him and you will carry off the cake. 1
will 60 with you, act as your friend,
and see that all goes right. Will you
leave the matter to mep"
"Is you sure he won't tight, Cap.
penn"
Certainly. 1 am. Now you &C
home. Keep quiet. l will see YOU
through this matter, and when you
marry Miss Sophy, will dance at the
wedding"
"All right, sah," he replied, and
with a buoyant, smiling face left the
Office.
Half an hour afterwards | was in
the saddle on my way to my old friend
Mai. Swivels
To him / repeated the whole affair
and besOught him to seek Ju and act
the part of second for that meeting.
On my return to my Office | wrote a
formal challenge to Ju in the name of
Ananias and quietly awaited results.
Ju, through his second, Maj. Swiv-
els, accepted the challenge, pistols
were named as the weapons aud the
following Friday as the time.
Thursday afternoon the Major and
met and perfected all the details.
That night for fear Mas might lose
courage and desert me, | made him
sleep in my office and fastened doors
and windows on him.
About a. m. the next morning
harnessed my roam mare Nelly to the
buggy, took Mas in, and started of.
The boy was badly frightened, his
teeth chartered, and could hardly
control my risibles.
With careless movement of my
foot l dislodged the cover of box in
the front part of the buggy and al.
lowed him glance at the contents.
These consisted of a hand saw, Il
long, glittering pruning knife and an
ordinary butchers cleaver.
whats dem fer, Cappen," he
said.
"They are surgical instruments" ]
replied. "You may be badly wounded,
and may have to cut off your arm or
leg to save your life.
"Good gor'- IA mighty, Cap'pen, let
me git right outen dis buggy. He kin
hab dat gal il he wants, an sides
dat / forgot to feed de mule dis
mornin'."
Silence" said, peremptorily.
"You have got to fight now, and il you
try to escape I'll blow the top of your
head Off.
The poor young fellow was almost
paralyzed with fright, and becoming
somewhat uneasy at his condition, 1
pulled out flask of brandy and gave
him pretty stiff drink.
After the liquor had partially re-
stored his faculties / said to him,
"Now, Mas, brace up and be a man.
tell you that Ju is an awful coward
and will run just as soon as you point
pistol at him. Just do as say and
all will be WELL"
When we got to the appointed place
the Major and his protege were already
| there.
Ju was sight. His eyeballs were
rolling, his cheeks were as ashen as
they could get under the peculiar pig
ment OF his cuticle, and no wonder,
for in the Majors buggy were two
huge pistols of revolutionary origin,
with flint locks. half gallon syringe,
a monkey-wrench and pair of horse
clippers.
The major saluted me in grave,
formal manner.
returned it as gravely an form
ally. Tying our horses to convenient
saplings and leaving our respective
charges seated, with strict injunctions
not to stir, the MOTOR and / retired
some distance for consultation.
"How is your manp" said he, al
most choking with laughter.
Scared to DEATH" i replied, al
had to brace him up with brandy"
$50 did / mine." said he, sand now
let's have circus. / have loaded the
pistols with powder only, of course,
but so heavily that the discharge will
knock the devil out of them at the
first fire."
THAT will be good thing" l an
swered, 'for their pastor assures me
that he has been trying to do that for
the last three years.
We gave the heroes another drink
and placed them in position, ten PAGES
apart, pistol in hand.
The Major won the word, and gave
it generously:
Fire! one-two-three!
There was a terrific report, vast
cloud OF smoke and both men Law
prone upon the ground.
rushed to Ananias and raised him
up. The huge horse pistol recoiling
had struck his nose, and it was bleed
ing profusely.
len PAGES away, Ju just recovering
hts senses saw the bloody face of his
antagonist and yelling "Done kill
him" broke for the woods,
We called after him, but to no avail.
He kept on running, and as we have
never seen him since we suppose he i
running still.
About a month later Mas cam,
into my Office, and looking up bash
fully, said: "Cap'pen, is you gwine to
town ter-dayp"
II am" answered.
Than IL Won l,laaaa aah aY af az