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Show 166 RICHARD IIURDIS. the effort to grnsp his opponent's thront; and I al.m~st fnncied, I beheld the wolf upon his leap. The nnils of Ills hng-crs kal 110t hecn cut for n month, and looked rather like the claws of a wild lJcnst than the proper nppendagrs of a man. "You s<'f'tn to lwtc him Yrry much," was my tmneccssnry r cmarlc I uttered it nlmost uncoll scionsly. It prompted him to further speech. - "I do hate him," was the reply, "more tkm I hate anything besides in nnturc. I don't bate a bc<tr, for I cm1 shoot him; nor a dog, for I cnn scourge him; nor a horse, for I can manngc }Jim; nor n ·wild bull, for l have taken l1im hy the horns when he wns maddest. llut I h:1tc that man, Grafton, by the ctcrll:ll ! and I hate him more bccnusc l cnn't manage !Lim in any way. Tic's neither bc:1r, nM bull, nor clog-not so dangC'rous, yet more difficult t1wn all. I'd giYe ni l l'm wortl1, :md tl1n t's something, though you don't sec it, pcrhnps, only to mret l1im as a. bear, ns ~ bull, ns a dog-ny, by the hokies, as ~d l three together !-:mel let us nll show after our own fashion, what wo arc good for. l'tl lick his blood that dny, or he should lick mine." "It seems to me," I replied , nnd my looks and b.ngu:~gc must both have partaken larg·cly of the unmitigated disgust within my soul-" It ~cems to me strnnge, ind eed, how n_ny mnn, having the spirit of manhood, should keep such a bat red ns that festering in his hcnrt, without seeking to work it out! 'Vhy, if you hate him, do you not fight him 1" "'l'hnt's well enough said, young master!" he cried, without hearing me to the end-~~ but it's easier to say that, and to desire it, thnn to get it! Fight it out, indeed !-nnd lww am I to make l1im figl1t 1 send him a clirdlenge? Utt! lm! ha! VYlLy, he'd lnugh nt it, and so ·would you, young oir, if he slLOwed you thC' ch:tllenge, while you happened to be in the ]Louse. His wife would laugh, and his daughlC'r would l:lllgll, and even nigger Tom would laugh. I ou'd lHlYC lots of fun over it. Ha! ha! a challenge from Mat. "''r C'bber to Colonel John Grafton, Grafton Lodge! 'Yhat a joke for my neighbor democrats! Every ra scal among them-C'nch of whom would fight you to-morrow, sir, if you ventured to say they were not perfectly your equal-would yet laugh to S!Jlit their sides to RAVAGI<~ P .\ SSIONS. 167 think of the impudence of that poor devil, 'V cbbcr, in challenging ColonC'l ,John Grafton, 'Rquire Graft011, the grcnt pl:mter of' Grafton I.odgc! Oh, no, sir! that's all llL)' eye. 'l'l1ere's no getting a fight out of my enemy in that wny. You must think of some other f<1shion for righting poor men in this country." rl'hcrc was certainly some truth in whnt the fellow snid . . He felt it, but he seemed 110 longer angry. Bating n. sarcastic grin, and n. slight and seemi ngly nervous motion of his fingers, which accompanieJ the wonls, tiLey were r;;poken with a coolness almost amounting to good nnture. I lwei, meanwhile, got somewhat warmed by the viperous malignity which he had indicntC'cl toward a gentleman, wltO, ns you have seen, hnd won grcntly upon my good rcgarfls; and, without paying much attention to the recoYered case nnd quiet of the fellow-so entirely different from the flerce and woHislL demeanor whiclL l1ad marked him but a few moments before-! proceeded, in the same spirit in which I had begun, to reply to him:- . "Had yon }Leard me out, sir, yon would, perhnps, have spared your speech. I grant you that it might Lc a diflicult, if not an i1~possible thing to bring Mr. Grafton to a meeting; bt~t this {hfficulty would not arise, I imagine, from nny difference between you of wenlth 01· stntion. No mere inequalities of fortunc would dcp_rive any man of his claim to justice in any field, or my own affa1rs would frequently subject me to such deprivation. 'rhere must be something besid~s tl1is, which make~ a man incur a forfeiture of this sort." "Yes, yes," he replied instantly, with surprising quickness. "I understand what you would say. The world must estec~ me a gentleman ." "Precisely," was my careless reply. The fellow looked gra~ely upon me for an instant, but smoothing down his brow, wluch began to grow wrinkled, he proceeded in tones as inclif~ fcrent as before. "I confess to you, I'm no gentlemnn- I don't pretend to it -I wasn't born o_ne and can't nfford to take up the business. It eo~ts too much m clothes, in triukcts, in fine linen, in booklcarnmg, and other matters." I was about to waste a few sentences upon him to show that |
