CHAPTER X.
THE DUEL AND ITS RESULT.
Belligerent were the glances exchanged between the two, as they satthere facing each other, each with a hand closed over the butt of apistol; each as motionless as a carved statue.
Alice Terry had grown pale, too. She saw that friend and protector andthe stranger were enemies,--that this meeting though purely accidentalwas not to end without trouble. Her lips grew set, her eyes flashed,and she reined her horse closer to that of the Scarlet Boy.
Ned Harris let a faint smile, of contempt and pity combined, come intorelief on his lips, as he saw this action. Better ten male enemiesthan one female, he thought; but, then, women must not stand in theway, now. No! nothing must block the path intervening between enmityand vengeance.
Harris was, if anything, the coolest of the three; but, after all, whyshould he not be? He had spent several years in society that seemedcallous to fear,--that knew not what it was to be a Christian; wherethe utmost coolness was necessary to the preservation of life; wherebravery was all and education a dead letter. Fearless Frank, too, hadseen all phases of rough western life, probably, but his temperamentwas more nervous and excitable, his passions tenfold harder torestrain. Still, he managed to exercise a cool exterior now, thatequaled that of his opposite--his hated enemy. Mystery, as Frankhabitually called the girl, did not offer to conceal her feelings. Itwas but natural that she should side with him to whom she owed herlife, and the glances of scorn and indignation she shot at the youngminer might have driven another man than him into a retreat.
Fearless Frank made no motion toward speech; he was determined thatthe young miner should open the quarrel, if a quarrel it was to be.But beneath his firm-set lips were clenched two rows of teeth,tightly, fiercely; while every nerve in the youth's body was drawn toits utmost tension.
Harris was wonderfully calm and at ease; only a gray pallor on hishandsome face and a menacing fire in his piercing eyes told that hewas in the least agitated.
"Justin McKenzie!"
Sternly rung out the words on the clear mountain air. Ned Harris hadspoken, and the grayish pallor deepened on his countenance while thefire of rancor burned with stronger gleam in his eagle eye.
The effect on the scarlet youth was scarcely noticeable, more thanthat the lips grew more rigid and compressed, and the right handclutched the pistol-butt more tightly. But no answer to the other'ssummons.
"Justin McKenzie!" again said the young miner, calmly, "do yourecognize me?"
The Scarlet Boy bows his head slowly, his eyes watchful lest the othershall catch the drop on him.
"Justin McKenzie, you _do_ recognize me, even after the elapse of twolong weary years, during which I have sought for you faithfully, butfailed to find you until this hour. We have at last met, and the timefor settlement between you and me, Justin McKenzie, has arrived. Herein this out-of-the-way gorge, we will settle the grudge I hold againstyou--we will see who shall live and who shall die!"
Alice Terry uttered a terrified cry.
"Oh! no! no! you must not fight--you _must_ not. It is bad--oh! soawful wicked!"
"Excuse me, lady, but you will have no voice in this matter;" and theminer's tone grew a trifle more severe. "Knew you the bitter wrongdone me by this young devil with the smooth face and oily tongue--ifyou knew what a righteous cause I have to defend, you would say 'letthe battle proceed.' I am not one to thirst for the blood of myfellow-men, but I _am_ one that is ever ready to raise my hand andstrike in the defense of women!"
Alice Terry secretly admired the stalwart young miner for this gallantspeech.
Fearless Frank, his face paler than before, an expression of remorsecombined with anguish about his countenance, and moisture standing ineither eye, assumed his quasi-erect attitude as he answered:
"Edward Harris, if you will listen, I will say all I have to say in avery few words. You hate me because of a wrong I did you and yours,and you want my life for the forfeit. I shall not hinder you longer toyour purpose. For two long years you have trailed and tracked me withthe determination of a bloodhound, and I have evaded you, not that Iwas at all afraid of you, but because I did not wish to make you amurderer. I have come across your path at last; here let us settle, asyou have said. See! I fold my arms across my breast. Take out yourpistol, aim steadily, and fire twice at my breast. I have heard enoughconcerning your skill as a marksman to feel confident that you cankill me in two shots!"
Ned Harris flushed, angrily. He was surprised at the cool indifferenceand recklessness of the youth; he was angered that McKenzie shouldthink _him_ mean enough to take such a preposterous advantage.
"You are a fool!" he sneered, biting his lip with vexation. "Do youcalculate I am a _murderer_?"
"I have no proof that you are or that you are _not_!" replied FearlessFrank, controlling his temper by a master effort. "You remember I havenot kept a watch upon your actions."
"Be that as it may, I would be an accursed dog to take advantage ofyour insulting proposal. You must fight me the same as I shall fightyou!"
"No, Ned Harris, I will do nothing of the kind. It is I who havewronged you and yours; you must take the offensive; I will play asilent hand."
"You refuse to fight me?"
"I _do_ refuse to fight you, but do _not_ refuse to give yousatisfaction for what wrong you have suffered. Take my life, if youchoose; it is yours. Take it, or forever after this consider our debtof hatred canceled, and let us be--"
"Friends? Never, Justin McKenzie, _never_! You forget the stain dyedby your hand that will never washout!"
"No! no! God knows I do not forget!" and the youth's voice was hoarsewith anguish. "Could it be undone, I would gladly undo the deed. But,tell me, Harris about _her_. Does she still live?"
"_Live_? We-l-l, yes, if you can call staying living. Life is but ablank; better she had died ere she ever met you!"
"You speak truly; better she had died ere she met me."
Unconsciously the two had ridden closer to each other; had theyforgotten themselves in recalling the past?
"She lives--may live on her lonely life for years to come," Harrisresumed, thoughtfully, "but her life will be merely endurance."
"Will you tell me where--where I can go in secret and take but onelook at her? If you will do this, I will agree to meet you and giveyou your chance for satis--"
"No!" thundered Harris, growing suddenly furious, "_no_! a thousandtimes! I'd sooner see her in the burning depths of the bottomless pitthan have you get within a hundred miles of her with yourcontaminating presence. She is safely hidden away, and that forever,from the companionship of our sex. So let her be till death claimsher!"
"You are too hard on her!"
"And not hard enough on you, base villain that your are! Who is thisyoung lady you have to your company--another of your victims?"
"Hold! Edward Harris; enough of your vile insinuations. This lady isone whom I rescued from Sitting Bull, the Sioux, and I am helping herto hunt a father who she says is somewhere in the Black Hills. Yourlanguage should at least be respectful!"
The rebuke stung young Harris to the quick, but he reined in hispassion to a moment, and doffed his hat.
"Pardon me; miss, pardon me. It was ungentlemanly for me to speak as Idid, but I was surprised at seeing one of your sex in company withthis accomplished scamp, Justin McKenzie."
"My presence with him is, as he said, for the purpose of finding myfather. He rescued me from the Indians, and has volunteered hisservices, for which I am very thankful. So far, sir, he has acted in acourteous and gentlemanly manner toward me!" said Alice Terry. "Whathe may have been heretofore concerns me not, as you must know."
"He is always that--smooth-tongued, until he has lured his victim toruin!" retorted Ned, bitterly. "Beware of him, lady, for he is arattlesnake in the disguise of a bright-winged butterfly."
Fearless Frank grew livid at this last thrust. Forbearance is virtue,sometimes, but not always. In his case the Scarlet Boy felt that hecould bear the
taunts of the miner no longer.
"You are a liar and a dastard!" he cried, fiercely. "Come on if youwish satisfaction, and I'll give it to you!"
"I am ready, always, sir. I challenged you first; you have thechoice!" retorted Ned, as cool as ever, while his enemy was alltrembling with excitement.
"Pistols, at fifty yards; to be fired until one or the other is dead!"was the prompt decision.
"Good! Young lady, you will necessarily have to act as second for bothof us. If I drop, leave my body where I fall, and it will be picked upby friends. If he falls, I will ride on to Deadwood, and send you outhelp to carry him in."
Without delay the distance was guessed at, and each of the young menrode to position. Miss Terry, the beautiful second, took her place atone side of the gulch, midway between the antagonists, and when allwas to readiness she counted:
"One!"
The right hands of the two youths were raised on a level, and thegleaming barrel of a pistol shone from each.
"Two!"
There was a sharp click! click! as the hammers of the weapons werepulled back at full cock. Each click meant danger or death.
Harris was very white; so was Fearless Frank, but not so much so asthe young woman who was to give the signal.
"Three! _Fire!_" cried Alice, quickly; then, there was a flash, thereport of two pistols, and Ned Harris fell to the ground without agroan.
McKenzie ran to his side, and bent over him.
"Poor fellow!" he murmured, rising, a few moments later--"poor Ned._He is dead!_"
It was Harris' request to be left where he fell. Accordingly he waslaid on the grass by the roadside, his horse tethered near by, andthen, accompanied by Alice, Justin McKenzie set out to Deadwood.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote C: Living characters]