a convict! Let me
go! I'll kill him!"

With a returning rush of his passion, David struggled in the man's
grasp.

"Wait, Dave, I'll tend to him. Go to the barn, Jud!" he commanded his
son.

Jud quailed before this new, strange note in his father's voice.

"David was fighting. You said neither of us was to fight. 'T ain't
fair to take it out on me."

Fairness was one of Barnabas' fixed and prominent qualities, but Jud
was not to gain favor by it this time.

"Well, you don't suppose I'm a-goin' to lick Dave fer defendin' his
parents, do you? Besides, I'm not a-goin' to lick you fer fightin',
but fer sayin' what you did. I guess you'd hev found out that Dave
could wallop you ef he is smaller and younger."

"He can't!" snarled Jud. "I didn't have no show. He came at me by
surprise."

Barnabas reflected a moment. Then he said gravely:

"When it's in the blood of two fellers to fight, why thar's got to be
a fight, that's all. Thar won't never be no peace until this ere
question's settled. Dave, do you still want to fight him?"

A fierce aftermath of passion gleamed in David's eyes.

"Yes!" he cried, his nostrils quivering.

"And you'll fight fair? Jest to punish--with no thought of killin'?"

"I'll fight fair," agreed the boy.

"I'll see that you do. Come here, Jud."

"I don't want to fight," protested Jud sullenly.

"He's afraid," said David gleefully, every muscle quivering and
straining.

"I ain't!" yelled Jud.

"Come on, then," challenged David, a fierce joy tugging at his
heart.

Jud came with deliberate precision and a swing of his left. He was
heavier and harder, but David was more agile, and his whole heart was
in the fight this time. They clutched and grappled and parried, and
finally went down; first one was on top, then the other. It was the
wage of brute force against elasticity; bluster against valor. Jud
fought in fear; David, in ferocity. At last David bore his oppressor
backward and downward. Jud, exhausted, ceased to struggle.

"Thar!" exclaimed Barnabas, drawing a relieved breath. "I guess you
know how you stand now, and we'll all feel better. You've got all
that's comin' to you, Jud, without no more from me. You can both go to
the house and wash up."

Uncle Larimy had arrived at the finish of the fight.

"What's the trouble, Barnabas?" he asked interestedly, as the boys
walked away.

The explanation was given, but they spoke in tones so low that David
could not overhear any