"My dear sir," I answered, with a calm smile, "I have had the honour of horse-whipping you already in the presence of several other people. I do not think it necessary to repeat it, as you can't easily take the past horse-whipping off; but if it will be any gratification to you, I will do it." "Well, sir, for a soldier, you seem cursed hard to take an insult," he answered with a sneer. "Not at all," replied I. "I have insulted you publicly, and on purpose. Your bad opinion of me I consider as no insult, but rather a compliment--at all events, till you have wiped out the horse-whipping you have received. And now, if you have nothing else to say, I shall wish you good morning." "Stay, stay!" he cried, with his face very much flushed; "you must give me satisfaction for this." "Very good," I answered. "I am quite at your service, wherever you please to name. You had better send some friend to my friend, Mr. Byles, and they will, together, arrange the preliminaries. I am myself staying at the house of Mr. Stringer, called Beavors, and shall remain there for a week. After that, I shall most likely be at Mr. Henry Thornton's; but Mr. Byles, I presume, will be found at his own house, and you must communicate with him." Thus saying, I made him a bow and left him, not at all sorry, I must confess, to have thrown the onus of the challenge upon him; for the idea of bowie-knives in a dark room, or blunderbusses in a saw-pit, does not at all meet my notions of the code of honour. We then mounted our horses, and after some little difficulty in the arrangements, Mr. Lewis and Mr. Robert Thornton being looked upon as prisoners (though not under personal restraint), pursued our way back to Jerusalem; the sheriff leading the party, and several other gentlemen following the waggons which contained the negroes, to prevent the possibility of any of the persons concerned escaping, as many doubts were entertained whether Mr. Lewis might not take the first opportunity of dashing away for the State-line. Various conversations, of course, took place; and I soon found an opportunity of communicating to Mr. Byles what had passed between Mr. Robert Thornton and myself, and of requesting him to act as my friend upon the occasion. "Certainly, certainly," he answered; "you managed it capitally. Now let me hear your views as to the time, place, mode, and weapon. I can lend you the best rifle in the world." "Excuse me," I answered; "pistols are the weapons we always use in England; and I certainly should prefer them. As to the place, you must appoint that for me, as I do not know the country. All the other arrangements I must leave to you; they are quite indifferent to me, except that I should like it over as soon as possible, for no business, especially business of this kind, should be long delayed." "But have you got pistols with you?" he asked. "Nothing but a pair for the pocket," I answered; "but surely they can be obtained in the neighbourhood."