e
American Union, where he fancied that men might fight duels just as
they pleased. He would be ready to go even to New Orleans at a day's
notice if only he could induce Colonel Stubbs to meet him there. And
he thought that, if Colonel Stubbs really possessed half the spirit
which seemed to be attributed to him by the British army generally,
he would come, if properly invoked, and fight such a duel as this,
whether at New Orleans or at some other well-chosen blood-allowing
spot on the world's surface. Tom was prepared to go anywhere for
blood.

But the invocation must be properly made. When he had wanted another
letter of another kind to be written for him, the Colonel himself
was the man to whom he had gone for assistance. And, had his present
enemy been any other than the Colonel himself, he would have gone
to the Colonel in preference to any one else for aid in this matter.
There was no one, in truth, in whom he believed so thoroughly as in
the Colonel. But that was out of the question. Then he reflected
what friend might now stand him in stead. He would have gone to
Houston, who wanted to marry his sister; but Houston seemed to have
disappeared, and he did not know where he might be found. There was
his brother-in-law, Traffick,--but he feared lest Traffick might give
him over once more into the hands of the police. He thought of Hamel,
as being in a way connected with the family; but he had seen so
little of Hamel, and had so much disliked what he had seen, that he
was obliged to let that hope go by. There was no one left but Faddle
whom he could trust. Faddle would do anything he was told to do.
Faddle would carry the letter, no doubt, or allow himself to be named
as a proposed second. But Faddle could not write the letter. He felt
that he could write the letter himself better than Faddle.

He went up to town, having sent a mysterious letter to Faddle,
bidding his friend attend him in his lodgings. He did not yet dare
to go to the Mountaineers, where Faddle would have been found. But
Faddle came, true to the appointment. "What is it, now?" said the
faithful friend. "I hope you are going back to Travers and Treason's.
That is what I should do, and walk in just as though nothing had
happened."

"Not if you were me, you wouldn't."

"That does make a difference, of course."

"There is something else to be done before I can again darken the
doors of Travers and Treason,--if I should ever do so!"

"Something pa