t _it_, but at _you_. So did your sweetheart, _amigo_. As we
reined up under the walls, I could see her long lashes drooping down,
the eyes looking disdain at you, with her pretty lips pouting in very
scorn. You're evidently out of her good graces, and you'll have to do
something ere you can reinstate yourself."

"Do you really think so?"

"I am sure of it. Never surer of anything in my life."

"But what would you have me to do?"

"You ought to know without asking me. Call out the cub, and _kill_
him--if you can. What I design doing with my gentleman."

"Ah! you're a dead shot; and that makes all the difference. These
Anglo-Saxons always use pistols; and if I challenge him, he'll have the
choice of weapons."

"Quite true. With me it will be different. I took care to _give_ the
affront, and you should have done the same. Seeing you got the worst of
it, you ought to have followed up your first dash at him by something
besides--a slap across the cheek, or a cut with your whip."

"I'm sorry now I didn't give him one or the other."

"Well, you may find an opportunity yet. For my quarrel, I don't care a
toss whether it be settled with swords or pistols. We Creoles of
Louisiana are accustomed to the use of either weapon. Thanks to old
Gardalet of the Rue Royale, I've got the trick of both; and am equally
ready to send a half-ounce of lead, or twelve inches of steel, through
the body of this Britisher. By the way, what's his name?"

The speaker pulls out the card given him by the English officer, and
glancing at it, answers his own question: "Edward Crozier, H.M.S.
_Crusader_."

"Ha! Mr Ned Crozier!" he exclaims, speaking in plain English, the
sight of the card seemingly giving a fresh fillip to his spleen; "you've
had your triumph to-day. 'Twill be mine to-morrow. And, if my fortune
don't fail me, there'll be an empty seat at the mess-table of the ship
_Crusader_."

"You really intend fighting him?"

"Now, Don Faustino Calderon, why do you ask that question?"

"Because I think all might be arranged without--"

"Without what? Speak out, man!"

"Why, without any spilling of blood."

"You may arrange it that way, if you like. Your quarrel is a distinct
one, and I've nothing to do with it--having my own hands full. Indeed,
if they were empty, I'm not so sure I should be your second--talking as
you do. However, that's not the purpose now. In answer to your first
question, I can only say wha