on?
You should leave it to us who are not honoured with service under the
foreign king, to flout his Majesty."

"There are moments, Jock Farquharson," I hotly replied, "when one's
first duty is to be a man, and this is such a moment. I tell you if
you do not drop your persecution of this lady you will have to count on
a forthright quarrel with me."

"A pretty speech, my Captain Gordon," he said, adding: "Pretty speeches
have a habit of coming from those whose tongues are their boldest
weapons."

"You credit me," I said warmly, "with an accomplishment which I may or
may not have; you assail me for want of a quality which I beg you to
permit me to prove here and now."

There was no mistaking that, and he and his men looked their
understanding. My feelings were what you can imagine, but I spoke
deliberately. Perhaps I realized the need for quiet resolution rather
than temper, which is ever too brittle a weapon to work well. As I
understood, the Black Colonel, having failed to get Marget into his
hands, with the object of mentally coercing her, now wanted to break
me, if he could, in her presence. There was no end to the man's
resource when the bad side of his character got going, and no measure
at which he would stick.

His insult to me had been spoken in a voice loud enough to be heard by
everybody. He so meant it to be heard, but my reply, an instant
acceptance of his challenge, surprised him for a moment. He looked at
me, hesitating what to say, and I looked at him with a perfectly clear
purpose in my face. We both looked at Marget, at his Highlanders and
at my men, knowing that with all these for witness of what had
happened, more must follow.

Deep down in my heart I felt relief, because I was sure that some day
we must fight out the odds between us, and when you come to that pass
with any man, it is best it should be settled. They say that delay is
fatal in love and deadly in war, and with me the two risks combined,
for mine was both a question of love and a question of war.

"Is it elegant," the Black Colonel said in a purring voice of which I
knew the worth, "that two men who are kinsmen in a degree, should
fight, in the presence of a young lady who is a kinswoman?"

"You should have thought of that before," I quickly retorted.

"I agree with Captain Cordon," said Marget, interrupting us, "for I
come of a people who have never been afraid to see trouble through, and
I beg of you, Colonel Jock F