ep
In miseree."

At this Mr. Hemphill turned and looked at him, while a deep grunt came
from the front seat, but the singer kept on without much attention to
meter, and none at all to tune.

"This is so,
Here we go,
Flabbergasted,
Hopes all blasted,
Flags half-masted.
While it lasted,
We poor--"

"Look here," cried Du Brant, turning round suddenly, "I beg you desist
that. You are insulting. And what you say is not true, as regards me at
least. You can sing for yourself."

"Not true!" cried Locker. "Oh, ho, oh ho! Perhaps you have forgotten
yourself, kind sir."

This little speech seemed to make Du Brant very angry, and he fairly
shouted at Locker: "No, I haven't forgotten myself, and I have not
forgotten you! You have insulted me before, and I should like to make
you pay for it! I should like to have satisfaction from you, sir"

"That sounds well," cried Locker. "Do you mean to fight?"

"I want the satisfaction due to a gentleman," answered the young
Austrian.

"Good," cried Locker, "that would suit me exactly. It would brighten me
up. Let's do it now. I am not going to stop at Washington, and this is
the only time I can give you. Driver, can we get to the station in time
if we stop a little while?"

The person addressed was a young negro who had become intensely
interested in the conversation.

"Oh, yes, sah," he answered. "We'll git dar twenty minutes before de
train does, and if you takes half an hour I can whip up. That train's
mostly late, anyway."

"All right," cried Locker. "And now, sir, how shall we fight? What have
you got to fight with?"

"This is folly," growled Du Brant. "I have nothing to fight with. I do
not fight with fists, like you Americans."

"Haven't you a penknife" coolly asked Locker. "If not, I daresay Mr.
Hemphill will lend you one."

Du Brant now fairly trembled with anger. "When I fight," said he, "I
fight like a gentleman; with a sword or a pistol."

"I am sorry," said Locker, "but if I remembered to bring my sword and
pistol I must have put them in the bottom of my trunk, and that has gone
on to the station. Have you two pistols or swords with you? Or do you
think you could get sufficient satisfaction out of a couple of piles of
stones that we could hurl at each other?"

Du Brant made no English answer to this, but uttered some savage remarks
in French.

"Do you understand what all that means?" inquired Locker of Hem