Solomon's face changed quickly. He took deliberate aim at the enemy and drawled: "Can't be yer opinion is wuth more than the lives o' these young fellers that's goin' to fight." "Gentlemen, you will save time by dropping all thought of apologies," said the General. "Then it only remains for you to choose your weapons and agree with us as to time and place," said Preston. "I choose pistols," said the young Britisher. "The time and place may suit your convenience, so it be soon and not too far away," "Let us say the cow wallow on Shooter's Hill, near the oaks, at sunrise to-morrow," Preston proposed. "I agree," the Lieutenant answered. "Whatever comes of it, let us have secrecy and all possible protection from each side to the other when the affair is ended," said Preston. "I agree to that also," was the answer of young Clarke. When they were leaving, Solomon said to Preston: "That 'ere Gin'ral is as big as Goliar." CHAPTER IX THE ENCOUNTER Solomon, Jack and their friend left London that afternoon in the saddle and took lodgings at The Rose and Garter, less than a mile from the scene appointed for the encounter. That morning the Americans had sent a friend of Preston by post chaise to Deal, with Solomon's luggage. Preston had also engaged the celebrated surgeon, Doctor Brooks, to spend the night with them so that he would be sure to be on hand in the morning. The doctor had officiated at no less than a dozen duels and enjoyed these affairs so keenly that he was glad to give his help without a fee. The party had gone out in the saddle because Preston had said that the horses might be useful. So, having discussed the perils of the immediate future, they had done all it was in their power to do to prepare for them. Late that evening the General and his son and four other gentlemen arrived at The Rose and Garter. Certain of them had spent the afternoon in the neighborhood shooting birds and rabbits. Solomon got Jack to bed early and sat for a time in their room tinkering with the pistols. When the locks were working "right," as he put it, he polished their grips and barrels. "Now I reckon they'll speak out when ye pull the trigger," he said to Jack. "An' yer eyesight 'll skate erlong easy on the top o' them bar'ls." "It's a miserable kind of business," said the young man, who was lying in bed and looking at his friend. "We Americans have a rather hard time of it, I say. Life is a fight from beginning to end. We have had to fight with the wilderness for our land and with the Indians and the French for our lives, and now the British come along and tell us what we must and mustn't do and burn up our houses." "An' spit on us an' talk as if we was a lot o' boar pigs," said Solomon. "But ol' Jeff tol' me 'twere the King an' his crowd that was makin' all the trouble." "Well, the King and his army can make us trouble enough," Jack answered. "It's as necessary for an American to know how to fight as to know how to walk."