"Why not? He will not defend himself." "But you surely cannot approve a coward?" "Are you sure he is a coward?" "I should consider myself one under the circumstances, I believe," he replied, evasively. "Would it not be cowardly to fight Morton Trask if he knew he could kill him?" "Bah!" came from the angry Trask. "He could, at least, have given Trask satisfaction for an insult," said Varney. Kate wavered. "That's true," she said; "he should have been a gentleman. Still, that does not prove him a coward." "I'll wager that I can prove him a coward," observed Lieutenant Holmes. "And safely, too." "'Twere wise to do it safely," supplemented Miss Fortune. "One time at home we exposed a boasting captain, who would have had us think him the bravest man on earth--" "But that does not seem to be Captain Studdiford's object," interrupted Kate. "True," went on Holmes, "but that has nothing to do with it. This captain was one night approached by five of his fellow officers, disguised as highwaymen, and despite his declarations that he had fought dozens of such men, he ran like a hound, screaming murder all the way. Why not test your captain's courage as we tested ours, Miss Fortune?" "In the first place, I could not be a very impressive highwayman, and in the second place, he might shoot." "You have plenty of men at your command who would serve as Indians for such an experiment," speculated Varney. "Egad! we all would!" exclaimed Holmes. "So you might!" she cried. "He would be willing to kill you if you were Indians." "We might as well give up the plan, for we could not force him to leave town without a bodyguard," sneered Trask. "Fie! That is easy. Miss Fortune could ask him to ride with her into the forest and he would go blindly enough," said Holmes. "I?" cried Kate, blushing to think of herself in that position after Studdiford's proclamation. "I could not--would not do such a thing. Prove him a coward, but do not ask me to help you." "Holmes is right, and Miss Fortune should be willing to make the test. She is his defender; she cannot refuse to satisfy herself of her error in this harmless, yet effective way," announced big Farring, and every member of the party laid siege against Kate's faltering opposition. The fun of it all finally appealed to her and she rather timidly agreed to the proposition. How could she ask him to ride with her after what had passed between them? He would think her unwomanly and, strangely enough, with that thought she began to feel that she must have his good opinion. Yet she went, half dubiously, into the plot to prove a coward of the man she was beginning to admire.