g. Ye understand, don't ye,
Yates, about the privlidge of self-defense?"

"You mean that I may defend myself if I can, don't you?"

"Yes. With the privlidge of self-defense. That's fair, an' I'd give it
to a painter. Now read it all over."

Jim put his head down between his knees, the better to measure every
word, while Yates read the complete document. Then Jim took the paper,
and, handing it to Benedict, requested him to see if it had been read
correctly. Assured that it was all right, Jim turned his eyes severely
on Yates, and said:

"Sam Yates, do ye s'pose ye've any idee what it is to be licked by Jim
Fenton? Do ye know what ye're sw'arin' to? Do ye reelize that I wouldn't
leave enough on ye to pay for havin' a funeral?"

Yates laughed, and said that he believed he understood the nature of an
oath.

"Then sign yer Happy David," said Jim.

Yates wrote his name, and passed the paper into Jim's hands.

"Now," said Jim, with an expression of triumph on his face, "I s'pose ye
don't know that ye've be'n settin' on a Bible; but it's right under ye,
in that chest, an' it's hearn and seen the whole thing. If ye don't
stand by yer Happy David, there'll be somethin' worse nor Jim Fenton
arter ye, an' when that comes, ye can jest shet yer eyes, and gi'en it
up."

This was too much for both Yates and Benedict. They looked into each
other's eyes, and burst into a laugh. But Jim was in earnest, and not a
smile crossed his rough face.

"Now," said he, "I want to do a little sw'arin' myself, and I want ye to
write it."

Yates resumed his pen, and declared himself to be in readiness.

"I solem-ny sw'ar," Jim began, "s'welp me! that I will lick Sam
Yates--as is a lawyer--with the privlidge of self-defense--if he ever
blows on Benedict--as is not a pauper--no more nor Jim Fenton is--an' I
solem-ny sw'ar, s'welp me! that I'll foller 'im till I find 'im, an'
lick 'im--with the privlidge of self-defense."

Jim would have been glad to work in the last phrase again, but he seemed
to have covered the whole ground, and so inquired whether Yates had got
it all down.

Yates replied that he had.

"I'm a goin' to sign that, an' ye can take it along with ye. Swap
seats."

Yates rose, and Jim seated himself upon the chest.

"I'm a goin' to sign this, settin' over the Bible. I ain't goin' to
take no advantage on ye. Now we're squar'," said he, as he blazoned the
document with his coarse and clumsy sign-manual. "Put that in ye