y you floor the soldier. Lord, what a state
I shall be in till I know what has taken place!"

"It will soon be known, Bob; so good-bye, and I trust we shall meet
again." I then went out of the bed-room.

The surgeon actually started when I made my appearance, and acknowledged
that the personation was exact. Taking the arm of the surgeon and the
master, we set off, the master carrying the pistols, which had been
prepared; and in a quarter of an hour we arrived at the place of
meeting. My disguise was so complete that we had not hesitated to walk
out sooner than we had intended; and we found ourselves the first on the
field of action, which I was glad of.

About dusk, which was the time agreed upon and about five minutes after
our arrival, our antagonists made their appearance. There was no time
to be lost, as there is little or no twilight in the West Indies; so a
polite bow was exchanged, and the ground marked out at eight paces by
the master and the second of my opponent. A very short parley then took
place between Mr Smith and the other gentleman, who officiated for the
adjutant, in which it was decided that we should turn back to back, with
our pistols ready, and that on the words, "Make ready--present--fire"
given in succession, we were to turn round to each other, level, and
fire. This made it more difficult to hit; indeed it was almost
impossible to take aim, as the words were given so quick after each
other; and the great point was, to fire as soon as the word was given.

The first discharge was not lucky for me. I missed my antagonist, and
received his bullet in my left shoulder; this did not, however, disable
me, and I said nothing about it. The pistols were again loaded and
handed to us; and on the signal being given, my adversary's pistol went
off a little before the word "fire" was given, and I felt myself again
hit; but I returned the fire with fatal success. The ball went through
his body, and he fell. The surgeon, master, and his second, immediately
went up, and raised him in a sitting position; but in a few minutes he
was senseless.

In the meantime I remained where I was, having dropped my pistol on the
ground. That I had an unpleasant pang at the idea of a fellow-creature
having fallen by my hand in a duel, I acknowledge; but when I called to
mind why I had fought the duel, and that if had saved the honour of the
captain (may I not say at once my father's honour? for that was my
feelin