"Shut up!" I said, without turning my head. "I'm a better shot than you,
I reckon, and, anyway, it's just as much my funeral now as yours. He's
had a shot at me, and that's a thing I don't forgive in a hurry."

"Well, of all the----," I heard him say, and then the rest of his remark
was drowned in the report of my weapon. I had spotted a white wrist back
of a gleam of polished metal and, taking a sporting chance, I let drive.
The other man's gun dropped to the sand, and a yell told me that I had
made no mistake.

"Here's where I come in," I said, and, forgetting the condition of my
feet, I sprinted towards the rocks. But the other fellow had decided
that the place was getting too hot for him, and he made off along the
sand as fast as his legs could carry him. He must have been in excellent
trim, for he shot along the heavy track as if he was running on the
cinder-path, and I saw before I had gone fifty yards that I hadn't a
chance in the world of catching him. Also there were half a dozen black
specks of men a mile or so along the beach, and my reason told me that
homicide before witnesses wasn't likely to prove a healthy pastime. So I
swallowed my pride and, consoling myself with the thought that some day
we might meet again, I wheeled about and made back to the nook.

The fat chap had shed his bathing suit and was climbing into his clothes
when I arrived. He beamed at me and his whole face crinkled into smiles.
I was so afraid that he was going to make a silly speech that I pushed
his automatic into his hands and said, "You'd better take this, old man.
The other party's in swift retreat and, from the condition of his wrist,
I don't fancy you'll receive another billet-doux for some time to come."

"Well, I'm hanged if you're not the coolest chap I've ever laid eyes
on," the fat man said admiringly.

"You were nearer being shot," I hinted, "and, if you don't mind me
saying so, the sooner you struggle into those clothes of yours and get
home to mother, the safer you'll be. I don't object to fighting for you
once in a while, but I'll see you further before I make a habit of it."

"Um!" said the fat man, "I'm sorry. I'd hoped to persuade you to take it
on permanently."

I thought at first that he was joking, but the way he looked at me
showed that he was in deadly earnest. For all his flippancy there was
something back of his eyes, a trace of fear that kept peeping out every
now and then, that told me he went in