would burst, the
veins of his forehead and throat swelling into tiny serpents, and his
crimson face grew darker and darker, a purplish tint creeping into it.
But Schoolcraft found that he was dealing with a man who had studied
wrestling as eagerly as its sister science. He also found that there was
a counter to his favorite hold, always providing that it had been robbed
of its greatest factor: surprise. For it to be deadly effective his
whole strength had to be thrown into it instantly and meet no ready,
rigid opposition; and in this he had failed because of the subtle
warning conveyed to his adversary when he fell before a harmless blow.
Almost before he knew it Tom's left arm, circling high in air, jammed in
between their heads and forced its way down to Schoolcraft's cheek. At
the same instant the right hand dashed down and got a hold inside his
left thigh, close up against the crotch; and as the left arm thrust his
head sidewise with a power not to be withstood, the right hand lifted
suddenly to the right and he struck the ground on his head and shoulder
with a shock which rendered him senseless.

The winner staggered back, braced himself and swayed a little on his
feet as he sucked in great gulps of air. He wheeled savagely as he heard
a shuffling step to one side and slightly behind him, but the precaution
was not necessary, for simultaneously with the shuffling came Joe
Cooper's snapped warning, cold and deadly.

"Better stop, Stevens! I'm only lookin' for an excuse to blow you open!"

Elias Stevens obeyed, standing irresolute and scowling. "You talk d----d
big behind a gun!" he sneered.

"Only half as big as I might, seeing it's a double gun," retorted the
older man. "If it don't suit you we can turn, step off ten paces an'
fire when we're ready. Might as well make a good job of it while we're
about it. I ain't no Mike Fink; but you ain't no Carpenter, so I reckon
it's purty even."

"I'll take care of any objectors, in any fashion," said Tom, facing
Stevens and the others. "I'll be ready fer you, Stevens, by th' time you
get your weapons an' coat off, if you choose that way. Pickin' on an old
man don't go while there's a younger one around; an', besides, it's my
quarrel. There it is, in your teeth; take it, and eat it!"

"It war a fair fight," said an onlooker in grudging admiration. He
expressed the ethics of the fighting current at that time in that part
of the country. Any kind of fighting, be it with h