"Now, then, are we ready?" staid West, rising. "Come with me,
gentlemen."

"What ye goin' to do, Bob?" asked Sizer, anxiously.

"I'll explain," replied the hardware man, leading the way to the street.
Everyone followed him and the crowd at the windows joined the group
outside. "Of course you mustn't shoot in the main street, for you might
hit some one, or break windows; but back of this row of buildings is a
lane that is perfectly clear. You will stand back to back in the center
of the block and then, at my word, you will each march to the end of the
block and pass around the buildings to the lane. As soon as you come in
sight of one another you are privileged to fire, and I suppose Bill
Sizer will try to kill you, Mr. Weldon, on the spot, and therefore you
will try to kill him first."

"But--look a-here, Bob!" cried Sizer; "it ain't right fer him to take a
shot at me. You said fer me to kill him, but ye didn't say nuth'n about
_his_ shootin' at _me_."

"That's all right, Bill," returned West. "You're in the right, and the
right ought to win. But you must give the man a chance for his life, you
know."

"That weren't in the bargain."

"It is now, by the laws of dueling."

"He--he might shoot me," urged Bill.