replied, smiling good-humouredly. "A
peaceable man who had not lived as long as I have might have found
himself at a loss in face of so strenuous a welcome. Corks, perhaps,
are more in place in bottles----"

"And a dale more in place out of them!" from the background.

"But if you will permit me to explain my errand, I will say no more of
that. My name, gentlemen, is Sullivan, Colonel John Sullivan of Skull,
formerly of the Swedish service, and much at your service. I shall be
still more obliged if any of you will be kind enough to inform me who
is the purchaser----"

Payton interrupted him rudely. "Oh, d--n! We have had enough of this!"
he cried. "Sink all purchasers, I say!" And with a drunken crow he
thrust his neighbour against the speaker, causing both to reel. How it
happened no one saw--whether Payton himself staggered in the act, or
flung the wine wantonly; but somehow the contents of his glass flew
over the Colonel's face and neckcloth.

Half a dozen men rose from their seats. "Shame!" an indignant voice
cried.

Among those who had risen was the sallow man. "Payton," he said
sharply, "what did you do that for?"

"Because I chose, if you like!" the stout man answered. "What is it to
you? I am ready to give him satisfaction when he likes, and where he
likes, and no heel-taps! And what more can he want? Do you hear, sir?"
he continued in a bullying tone. "Sword or pistols, before breakfast or
after dinner, drunk or sober, Jack Payton's your man. D--n me, it shall
never be said in my time that the --th suffered a crop-eared Irishman
to preach to them in their own mess-room! You can send your friend to
me when you please. He'll find me!"

The Colonel was wiping the wine from his chin and neckcloth. He had
turned strangely pale at the moment of the insult. More than one of
those who watched him curiously--and of such were all in the room,
Payton excepted--and who noted the slow preciseness of his movements
and the care with which he cleansed himself, albeit his hand shook,
expected some extraordinary action.

But no one looked for anything so abnormal or so astonishing as the
course he took when he spoke. Nothing in his bearing had prepared them
for it; nor anything in his conduct which, so far, had been that of a
man of the world not too much at a loss even in the unfavourable
circumstances in which he was placed--circumstances which would have
unnerved many a one.

"I do not fight," he said. "Your chal