"One moment," said the squire, handing over the intercepted challenge. "Is
this the written paper that you took out from the envelope directed to
Col. Anglesea and left by Mr. Bayard on your mantelpiece?"

"Why, to be sure it is!" said Miss Sibby, as she took it into her hand and
examined it.

"That will do! Leonidas Force, come forward."

Le stepped up to the table.

"Are you the writer of this challenge, directed to Col. Anglesea, and
bearing your signature?" queried Mr. Force, passing over the document in
question to the young man.

"Yes, sir, I am the author of that challenge," said Le, after a glance at
the paper.

"You have heard the charge laid against you. What have you to say in
defense?" questioned the squire.

"Nothing. The charge is substantially true, barring the bad names with
which the witness has complimented me. I deny that I am a 'warmint,' a
'wild cat,' a 'wolf,' a 'tiger,' a 'panther' or a 'rhine-horse-o-rus,'"
said Le, laughing; "but I wrote the challenge, and I intended to fight the
duel."

"You admit this?"

"Entirely."

"That will do. Sit down."

Le dropped into the only vacant chair, and awaited the next move.

"Roland Bayard, come forward," said the squire.

The young man came, and stood respectfully before the squire.

"You have heard the charges made against you?"

"Yes, sir."

"What have you to say in defense?"

"Nothing, except in some sort what my fellow prisoner there has said. In a
word, I may be, as Darwin says, remotely descended from a monkey, but I
certainly must decline identity, or even relationship, to the wild beasts
with which my good aunt has confounded me. But I did undertake to deliver
a challenge from my friend Mr. Leonidas Force to that caitiff Angus
Anglesea, and I did intend to be my friend's second in the duel."

"You admit all this?"

"I do."

"Leonidas Force, come forward."

The young midshipman stepped up and stood beside his friend, both facing
the squire.

And then Mr. Force began, in the most earnest and solemn manner, to speak
to them of the sin and evil of dueling; of the falsehood and insanity of
calling such a crime an "affair of honor," when, in truth, it was a matter
of dishonor. The very highest concern of a true man of honor is to keep
the law of God, which the duelist breaks; and to keep the law of the land,
which the duelist breaks. The duelist may have many motives, but "honor"
cannot be one of them! A bully will fight a