ck felt quite happy, not to say exhilarated, as he and
his friend the Colonel of Cuirassiers stepped briskly along the dew-
sodden gravel paths on their way to the rendezvous, which was an open,
grassy space in the south-west corner of the Gardens. Albareda had been
assiduously coaching his principal, ever since leaving the yacht, in the
etiquette of the duello as observed by the Spanish army, until he
considered that he had made his companion letter-perfect; and now he was
giving Jack a few last words of caution and admonition before standing
him up to be shot at.

"There is no doubt in my mind," said he, "that Alvaros intends to kill
you, if he can; for what you said to him yesterday has evidently sunk
into his mind and made him afraid of you. Therefore you must be careful
to fire sharp upon the word, or he will have you, for--to give the
fellow his due--he is rather a neat and quick hand with the pistol. The
word will be given thus: `One--two--three!' and at the word `three' you
must pull trigger. And I should recommend you to look him straight
between the eyes from the moment that you are posted, otherwise he may
attempt to play some trick with you, such as firing a fraction of a
second before the proper time, or something of that sort. Ah, here we
are, first on the ground, thank goodness, with a full two minutes to
spare! Only just managed it, however, for"--looking back along the path
by which they had come--"here come the other fellows, and the surgeon
with them. How are you feeling? Quite cool and comfortable? Good;
that is excellent!"

The conditions were simple: the duellists were to exchange not more than
three shots, at a distance of twelve paces, and were to fire at the word
of command; and at the last moment it was agreed, at Albareda's
suggestion, that if either of the combatants fired before the word of
command, he was to be penalised by his antagonist being given the
privilege of an extra shot at him. It was evident to all that this
condition was exceedingly distasteful to Alvaros; yet he could not
complain, or refuse its acceptance, since it imposed no hardship
whatever upon the man who intended to fight fair. These matters being
arranged, the ground was selected, the utmost care being taken that
neither combatant had the slightest advantage over the other in the
matter of light; the distance was paced off, and the men placed.

"Now," said Albareda, who was to give the word, "I shall count