Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-05-03
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a. s0ffoRf TIE War.
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3 SNMQS RUAA0 WIS.
Icopyrisht. 1858. by a N Kellogg Newspaper Col
CHAPTER v1L-coNrnuED.


CHAPTER vIL-CoNrrNUED.
In the painful silence that succeeded
this startling speech, all eyes were
fixed on Castex. He rose from his seat,
cool and smiling.
1T pleases me very much to retire, !"
he said. Witness it, messieurs!-yon-
der gentleman drives me from his table
and his house"
He bowed, and Immediately left the
room. Alphonse Basnet squirmed in
his chair, and at last blurted out:
''Bostock, my dear fellow - excuse
-me-but you see l can't remain. This
is a wretched business; l hope it will
end here. But 1 brought my friend
here, and of course 1 must go with
him.
And he did. The soup grew cold,
and was removed untasted; course after
course of the choicest dishes succeeded
and were hardly touched. Everybody
was under a dreadful constraint; occa-
ssiOnany there was a solitary remark,
but the effort to keep up a converse
ton was a fat failure. / have said so
much, that | ought to tell the whole
truth. When the wine appeared, the
guests turned to it as relief from the
awlzwardness of the situation. 1 pre-
sumo every body drank too much; 1 am
certain that 1 did. will except Bos-
took. He sat pale, rigid and silent
through it all. The guests departed
early, with hardly an effort to make
the usual compliments to the host.
The next morning was hardly out
of bed when Pierce Bostock walked in.
He looked as stern and white as when
1 ~
table.
''Well, he's challenged yolq," was my
:salutation.
mo. shall challenge him. Here's
the note. Take it to him, and then
go to the man that he names as his
friend"
1 was thunderstruck. I tried to re-
monstrate with him. 1 told him that,
so far as an outsider could judge, if
anybody had cause to send challenge,
it was Castex. 1 begged him to tell
me. in the strict confidence Of friend
ship, what the language was that
Caster had uttered to HIM. ! told him
that 1 could not act intelligently for
him in. this matter, unless l was adj
vised. He peremptorily refused to tell
me.
You have been my friend, Dorion, -
he said. when l say to yOu that no
human being must know my cause of
offense. you will believe that there is
the best of reason for my silence. Ma
poleon Castex knows, no man better
knows, the nature of his offense. He
knows me, also; and he understands
that if he were to lisp a hint of my
reasons for challenging him, would
seek him and shoot him down like a
dog! Don't argue with me, Alfred
Dorion; tell you the man is a cold
blooded scoundrel; he has sought me
out to force a quarrel upon me, and
there are the best of reasons why the
affair must go on"
There was nothing for me to do but
to deliver the challenge. l found Cas-
tex cool, polite and consenting.
There is not one of my NAME" he
said, with his marked French accent,
''who ever refused the request of a
gentleman to meet him on the field of
honor. NJ. Bostock thinks him
self insulted. Some might think that
L was. No matter; here is his cha1-
lenge. Take it to my dear Alphonse;
he will arrange everything with you.
l only say to you, that my remark to
M. Bostock was the truth. He knows
IL ~ OC GllC VI uOiAs anu 11O AAdS uOO O1C
grace to see that 1 put it in the Ian
guage of la belle France, that others
might cot understand it. So much you
may tell him, if you choose"
The affair went on to its frightful
end. Nobody could discover the truth.
Basnet tried his best to make his man
divulge the cause of offense, but in
vain.
Il only told him the truth, and told
it in French, that it might not be
heard by others. After have fought
him, will tell it very loudly, in your
harsh English, do you be sure. Mean
while, am quite willing to fight him.
I knew him long before you did"
The wound that Pierce Bostock re-
sceived was as nearly fatal as a wound
can be and leave the victim alive. The
ball traversed his lung; nothing out
the extraordinary skill of the doctor
saved him. The doctor had served in
the Mexican war, and happened to wit
ness the successful operation of a
Mexican surgeon upon a similar wound
of Gen. Shields, by cleansing it with a
silk handkerchief. In this way Bos-
Stock's life was saved; but the fever that
followed confined him to his bed fo1
weeks, drained his strength, and left
him only the shadow of his former self
His affection for his daughter seemed
doubled, if that were possible, by this
dreadful experience. In every waking
hour he wanted her with him. In his
delirium he would call her name; when
conscious, he would hold her hand and
look silently into her face as she sat by
his bed.
used often to call upon him while
he was confined to the house. One day
he sent Coralie out of the room and
asked me to shut the door.
You are still my friend, Alfred
Dorion-are you not?" he abruptly be
gan.
ITO be sure I am. While am dread
fully distressed by what has hap
pened-''
mo matter about that. want yor
to tell me something. What hap
pened after got that mans bullet?
think my senses were wandering
What did I say?"
I told him. repeated his expires
.sions-that he regretted that he hat