encounter with a warning.

"Ef you don't want a double dose o' dis here you'll prehaps obstain f'um
mentionin' de name o' de culled gentleman wot gib it ter you."

And the victim usually "obstained." If he didn't it was presently the
worse for him.

Robert had been born in the South. He had lived there till his
fourteenth year. He had there imbibed certain doctrines of pugnacious
chivalry. There had been bred in his bone the conviction that it was
every strong man's duty to protect every woman, and to punish any
disrespect shown to her.

In Robert's view there was only one gentlewoman in Cairo--his "Little
Missie"--and it seemed to him as clearly a matter of duty to protect her
against annoyance as it was to scrub the kitchen floor or to wash the
dishes.

It was through one of Robert's battles that Guilford Duncan became
acquainted with his hostess, Barbara Verne. That young woman very rarely
appeared in the dining room, and so the young Virginian had scarcely
more than met her, when one morning on his way to breakfast he came upon
a battle between Robert--"free man of color," as he loved to call
himself--and three Cairo boys who had waylaid him in order to avenge the
punishment he had given a few days before to one of them who had
playfully hurled half a brick through Barbara's kitchen window.

When Duncan came upon the battlefield, Robert was backed up against a
dead wall. Two of his adversaries had gone to grass, and the third was
hesitating to prosecute the attack alone. Seeing his hesitation,
Bob--great strategist that he was--instantly decided to convert his
successful defense into a successful offense, without delay. Quitting
his defensive position against the wall, he rushed upon his remaining
adversary, who promptly retreated without waiting to reckon up the
casualties.

Then Bob jumped upon his other and slowly rising antagonists, knocked
them down again and hurriedly exacted of each a "wish-I-may-die" promise
to let "Little Missie" alone from that day forth.

"Good for you, Bob!" exclaimed young Duncan. "But we'll make that
promise more binding. Help me and I'll take these young ruffians before
Judge Gross and compel them to give bonds for good behavior."

It didn't take long to arraign the culprits, prove that they had thrown
a brickbat through Barbara's window, and secure an order of the court
requiring them to give considerable bonds for good behavior in future.

This brought their parents into