542 D'EGVILLE; OR, THE DUELLIST. 



" It now remains with me to name the terms on which Captain 

 Stewart will encounter you." 



' " Ah, bah ! as to the terms, Willthorpe and yourself will settle 

 them on the ground." 



" Pardon me, sir; Mr. Willthorpe is a man with whom I wish to 

 have as little intercourse as possible. I must, therefore, tell you how 

 you are to fight." I then briefly related to him the preparations 

 Stewart was making to insure his own and his antagonist's death. 

 D'Egeville's face grew as dark as a thunder-cloud. 



" I fight as a gentleman ; I never turn butcher I will not agree 

 to those terms !" 



" On no other will my friend meet you you are an excellent shot, 

 he is not; he, therefore, proposes to equalize the chances, or rather, 

 to wash out your insult and his dishonour with the life's blood of 

 both. Refuse to meet him on those terms, and there is no species of 

 degradation but Captain Stewart will heap upon you. Nay, sir, 

 look not at me so menacingly, but give me your answer/' D'Ege- 

 ville eyed me from head to foot with a glance of contempt. I added, 

 " I come not here, Sir, to have a personal altercation ; but to know 

 from you whether you dare meet my friend 011 those desperate, but 

 fair conditions ; or do you refuse his challenge ?" 



" I refuse a challenge ? I, Henri D'Egeville, of Cape Frangois, re- 

 fuse a challenge ? I will meet your friend, and on his own terms." 



" Precisely at six, behind Iguana Rock." 



" I will be there." 



I bowed formally, and left him. As I quitted the house I heard 

 him call out, " Jean Pierre, bring me my pistols ; Louis, run and 

 call Vilthorpe ; he is next door at the billiard table." 



At six the parties met, that is, D'Egeville, Willthorpe, Stewart, 

 and myself, were on the appointed ground, behind an immense 

 black rock, on the sea-coast in this place, had been dug by Stewart's 

 people a grave capable of holding two bodies. The earth or sand 

 that came out of it, had been removed to some distance. It was 

 across the grave that the combatants were to hold a handkerchief, and 

 fire at a signal ; escape from death was hopeless. The glorious sun 

 was just setting Stewart took a melancholy look at the orb of day, 

 assured of its being his last ; methought I saw his lips move in in- 

 audible prayer, yet his mien was firm that of D'Egeville was sullen 

 and immoveable. The pistols of our principals were loaded by Will- 

 thorpe and myself. The Columbian officer proposed tossing up a 

 dollar to determine who should give the word of command to fire ; 

 to this I agreed, and he gave me a coin to decide the wager. I was 

 suspicious of this man from what I had heard of him, and, therefore, 

 glanced at the piece. It was fortunate that I used this caution ; for 

 it had two heads, and no reverse ! it was the halves of two split dol- 

 lars, so neatly joined that the eye could not detect it, but by looking 

 carefully at the rim. Willthorpe, amongst other of his accomplish- 

 ments, was a professed gambler ; the trick of joining two heads, or 

 reverses, of a coin, is an old one among the hopeful fraternity, called 

 blacklegs. I felt certain that something unfair was to be attempted 

 in giving the fatal word ; I knew not, nor have I since discovered, of 



