a heavy sigh.

CHAPTER XXXI.

A FRIENDLY CALL.--PRELIMINARIES OF THE DUEL NEATLY ARRANGED.--A DAMP
JOURNEY, AND DEPRESSED SPIRITS.--A SECLUDED SPOT.--DIFFICULTIES
WHICH ATTEND A DUEL IN A CANADIAN SPRING.--A MASTERLY DECISION.
--DEBATES ABOUT THE NICETIES OF THE CODE OF HONOR.--WHO SHALL HAVE THE
FIRST SHOT, STRUGGLE FOR PRECEDENCE.--A VERY SINGULAR AND OBSTINATE
DISPUTE.--I SAVE O'HALLORAN FROM DEATH BY RHEUMATISM.

Before the close of the day a gentleman called on me from O'Halloran,
whom I referred to Jack, and these two made arrangements for the duel.
It was to take place in a certain locality, which I do not intend to
mention, and which was no matter how many miles out of town.

We left at an early hour, and the doctor accompanied us. Jack had
sufficient foresight to fill the sleigh with all the refreshments that
might be needed on such an occasion. We drove to O'Halloran's house,
where we found his sleigh waiting, with himself and a friend all ready
to start. They led the way, and we followed.

It was a nasty time, the roads were terrible. They were neither one
thing nor the other. There was nothing but a general mixture of ice
heaps, slush, thawing snowdrifts, bare ground, and soft mud. Over this
our progress was extremely slow. Added to this, the weather was
abominable. It was warm, soft, slimy, and muggy. The atmosphere had
changed into a universal drizzle, and was close and oppressive. At
first O'Halloran's face was often turned back to hail us with some
jovial remark, to which we responded in a similar manner; but after a
time silence settled on the party, and the closeness, and the damp, and
the slow progress, reduced us one and all to a general state of
sulkiness.

At length we came to a little settlement consisting of a half-dozen
houses, one of which bore a sign on which we read the words _Hotel de
France_. We kept on without stopping, and O'Halloran soon turned to the
right, into a narrow track which went into the woods. In about half an
hour we reached our destination. The sleighs drew up, and their
occupants prepared for business.

It was a small cleared space in the middle of the woods. The
forest-trees arose all around, dim, gloomy, and dripping. The ground
was dotted with decayed stumps, and covered with snow in a state of
semi-liquefaction. Beneath all was wet; around all was wet; and above
all was wet. The place with its surroundings was certainly the most
dismal that I had eve