St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1893-11-25
THE QUIET MAN.

THE QUIET MAN.
Why tho Subject of Duclinz Wa
Distastef,al to Him.
''rve seen good many strange things
In my time, IS you know, but never
yet told you about the strangest OF
them all; and I can promise you that
it's story worth hearing"
So spakc Gen. R., as we sat side
by side in the veranda Of his snug little
house in one of the northwestern prov.
inces of India, watching the sun sinl,
behind the endless line of stately palm
trees that stood ranged like piumed
soldiers along the opposite bank Of the
river.
Suppose you tell it mo now. gen.
eral," suggested /, guessing from the
grave look on the old hcro's weather
beaten face that the forthcoming story
must have deeper interest than any Of
his ordinary campaigning anecdotes
81 don't mind If ! do" answered the
veteran, ''for although it is IN affair
that have no great pleasure in look
ing back upon, it taught me q good les
son, il only I had the sense to profit
by It.
"When I was quite a young fellow
and hadn't long Joined the army" he
resumed after a pause, II used to be-
long to q fashionable club in London.
the members of which were just the
sort Of men you read about in Levers
novels-sas wild rs could be. always in
some scrapc or other, and spending
their whole time in riding. shooting,
gambling or fishing-ali except ono.
THAT one was q small, quiet, pale
faced, gray-haired man. with q very
sad, weary look, as If he had once been
crushed by some great sorrow and had
never been able to shake il of. He
hardly ever spoke to anyone, and when
he did it was fn voice as meek as his
face. So. of course. we made great fun
of him among ourselves, finding these
quiet ways of his very queer contrast
to our own rackety, harum-scarum
style. and we nicknamed him the
Quictest Man in the Club though. in
deed. we might just as well have called
him the only quiet man in it.
well, one evening when the room
was pretty full and our friend. the
Quiet Man, was sitting. rs usual, in the
far corner. away from everybody else,
we began to talk about dueling. a sub
ject with which We were all tolerably
familiar, for there was hardly o man
among us who hadn't been out once.
"'They did some tidy dueling in the
old times said Lord II. who was
killed afterward in action. You rc-
member how those six chulns of Harry
III. of France fought three to three till
thene was only one left alive out of
the six 4.
That was pretty fair. certainly
cried Charlie Thornton. of the Guards;
but after all. it doesn't beat the great
duel thirty years ago between Sir Har.
~ Martingalc and Col Fortescue.'
.'Ile had hardly spoken when up
jumped the quiet man IS If somebody
had stuck = pin into him.
"'What on searth's the matter with
him" whispered Thornton. 4 never
saw him like that before"
"'But what was the story, then,
Charlie? asked another man. I've
heard OF Fortescue, of course. for he |
was the most famous duelist of his |
kind in all England. and I've heard of |
his fight with Martingale, too; but 1 |
don't think I've ever had any particu- |
lars, or at least none worth speaking |
Of
~ can give them to you, then.' an
swcred Thornton; for my uncle was |
AT~~As~o1nsc
tell the story many . time. and he al
ways said that although he had been
In plenty Of ducls. he had never seen
one like that, and never wanted to see
It again. What they quarrelcd about
don't know, and dare say they didn't
know themselves: but my uncle used /
to say he knew by the look in shcir
eyes when they took their places to fire
that it could note end without blood, and
1t didn't They fred twice, and every
shot told; and then their seconds. Sec
ing that both men were hard hit and
bleeding fast, wanted to put an end to
il. But Fortescuc-who was one of
those grim fellows who arc always
most dangerous toward the end of .
fght-insisted upon third shot The
third time, by some accident, Martin.
gale fired . moment too soon. and gave
him . bad wound in the side; but For
tescuc pressed his hand to the wound to
stop the bleeding, and then, almost
bent double with pain though he was,
he fired and brought down his man.
"'Killed him%
'Rather-shot hir2 slap through the
heart But it was his last duel. for
from that day he was never heard of
again; and people said he had either
suicide or died of q broken
heart Il
We'll. I don't see why he need have
done that. for, after all. it was fair
fight struck In Lord H, who had
been looking over the newspapers on
the table; but il you talk Of dueling,
what do You say TO this?
Another Ducling Tragedy in Paris.
The notorious Prussian bully and duel.
Ist. Armand de villeneuvc. has Just
added another wreath to his blood
stained laurela the new victim being
Henri de Polignac, . Aue
young fellow Of twenty-three, the only
son of = widowed mother. Some strong
expressions Of disgust used by the
chevalier with reference to one Of De ,
Villeueuve's former duels having come
10 the latter's ears, he sought out De
Folignac and insultcd him so grossly q
10 reader = meeting inevitable. The
,hevalier having fred first and missed,
Dc Villeneuve called out to him: Look
% the secoud buttonhole of your coat.'
md sent . bullet through the spot in