the lieutenant, and I knew
that his principal was an adept in the use of the sword as well as
though he had told me in so many words.

"I cannot make choice of the sword," I replied, "because my friend does
not understand its use, and therefore the advantage would be all on your
side."

"Then pray name what weapon you will fight with," Merriam said,
impatiently.

"This is the weapon we will use," I replied, producing, to the
astonishment of the officer, my three foot six inch barrel rifle, which,
during our absence the day before, Smith had cleaned and polished up
thoroughly.

"What is that?" he asked, astonished.

"This," I replied, "is an American rifle, and a very good one it is, I
assure you."

"But we cannot fight with only one, and unless another is produced
precisely like it, some other weapon will have to be resorted to," cried
the officer, with a slight expression of joy.

"I am aware of that," I replied coolly, and to his astonishment I
presented him with a fac-simile of the first.

"These rifles," I remarked, "were both made by the same person, and he
was instructed to manufacture them without a shade of difference in
regard to size or weight. The only method we have of telling them apart
is to consult the stocks, where our names are engraved. Examine them
attentively, and then select whichever you please. One is as good as the
other, and each carries well."

The Englishman stared at the rifles with a countenance blank with
dismay. They were weapons which he was entirely unacquainted with, and
he felt that the safety of his principal demanded a remonstrance against
their use.

"I object to the use of rifles," he said, at length, firmly and
decidedly. "My friend is entirely unacquainted with these kind of
weapons, and it would be madness on his part to go to the field with
such odds against him."

I listened calmly, and with my mind unchanged. I knew that Fred's safety
depended upon my selection, and inwardly vowed that if he had got to
fight, he should settle the difficulty with his own weapons.

"This quarrel," I remarked, "is not of our seeking. A few words were
spoken in jest by my friend, and as soon as spoken were forgotten; and
it is probable that even now we should not remember the man we insulted.
If my friend has got to fight, he shall be placed upon an equality with
his adversary."

"But I do not call this equality," echoed the lieutenant, gazing with
looks of dismay at the rifle