air fight."

He shook his head.

"All very well for young men," he said. "At my age, if a man holds
trumps he keeps them."

"How long have you been here?"

"About two minutes. When I didn't see you at the bank I thought
something was up, so I galloped on to her house. No one there! So I
came on here. A good shot, eh?"

The fall had done it. But for that we should have been safe.

"Well?" he said.

In the bitterness of my heart I could hardly speak. But I was not
going to play either the cur or the fool, so I said:

"Your trick, sir, and therefore your lead! I must do what you tell
me."

"Honor bright, Martin?"

"Yes," said I; "I give you my word. Take the revolver if you like,"
and I nodded my head to the pocket where it lay.

"No," he said, "I trust you."

"I bar a rescue," said I.

"There will be no rescue," said he grimly.

"If the colonel comes--"

"The colonel won't come," he said. "Whose house is that?"

It was my boatman's.

"Bring her there. Poor child, she suffers!"

We knocked up the boatman, who thus did not get his night's rest after
all. His astonishment may be imagined.

"Have you a bed?" said the President.

"Yes," he stammered, recognizing his interlocutor.

"Then carry her up, Martin; and you, send your wife to her."

I took her up, and laid her gently on the bed. The President followed
me. Then we went downstairs again into the little parlor.

"Let us have a talk," he said; and he added to the man, "Give us some
brandy, quick, and then go."

He was obeyed, and we were left alone with the dim light of a single
candle.

The President sat down and began to smoke. He offered me a cigar and
I took it, but he said nothing. I was surprised at his leisurely,
abstracted air. Apparently he had nothing in the world to do but sit
and keep me company.

"If your Excellency," said I, instinctively giving him his old title,
"has business elsewhere you can leave me safely. I shall not break my
word."

"I know that--I know that," he answered. "But I'd rather stay here; I
want to have a talk."

"But aren't there some things to settle up in the town?"

"The doctor's doing all that," he said. "You see, there's no danger
now. There's no one left to lead them against me."

"Then the colonel is--"

"Yes," he said gravely, "he is dead. I shot him."

"In the attack?"

"Not exactly; the fighting was over. A very short affair, Martin. They
never had a chance; and as soon as two or th