220 THE BARKERS. 



on his knee, exclaiming " Holloa ! holloa ! you blood-thirsty 



villain ! do you want to take my life ? " 



" Why to be sure I do ; " said Skelton. " Ha ! ha ! have I 



stiffened you, my lad ? " Wisely judging however, that if he staid 



till the exciseman recovered his legs, he might have a couple of 



shots to stand, he wheeled about, took to his heels, and got away 



as fast as possible. The crowd shouted ; but Skelton, like a hare 



when started, ran the faster for the shouting. 



Jemmy Moffit, his own second, followed, overtook, tripped up 



his heels, and cursing him for a disgraceful rascal, asked "why 



he ran from the exciseman ? " 



"Oach tundher ! " said Skelton, \\ith his chastest brogue, "how 



many holes did the villain want to have drilled into his carcase ? 



Would you have me stop to make a riddle of him Jemmy ? " 

 The second insisted that Skelton should return to the field, to 



be shot at. He resisted, affirming that he had done all that honour 



required. The second called him " con-urd! " 

 " By my sowl, " returned he, " my dear Jemmy Moffit, may be 



so ! you may call me a coward, if you please; but I did it all for 



the best. " "The best ! you blackguard .' " 



"Yes/' said Frank : " sure it 's better to be a coward than a 



corpse ! and I must have been either one or t'other of them. " 

 However he was dragged up to the ground by his second, after 



agreeing to fight again, if he had another pistol given him. But 

 luckily for Frank, the last bullet had stuck so fast between 

 the bones of the exciseman's leg that he could not stand. The 

 friends of the latter then proposed to strap him to a tree, that he 

 might be able to shoot Skelton ; but this being positively objected 

 to by Frank, the exciseman was carried home : his first wound 

 was on the side of his thigh, and the second in his right leg ; but 

 neither proved at all dangerous. 



The exciseman, determined on haling Frank, as he called it, on 

 his recovery challenged Skelton in his turn. Skelton accepted the 

 challenge, but said he was tould he had a right to choose his own 

 weapons. The exciseman, knowing that such was the law, and 

 that Skelton was no swordsman, and not anticipating any new in- 

 vention, acquiesced, "Then," said Skelton, " for my weapons, 

 T choose myjists: and, by the powers, you gauger, I'll give you 

 such a basting that your nearest relations shan't know you. " 

 Skelton insisted on his right, and the exciseman not approving of 

 this species of combat, got nothing by his challenge; the affair 

 dropped, and Skelton triumphed. BARRINGTON. 



