Part 33 (2/2)
”What if he had struck me!” palpitated the little man. ”Oh, gracious! It would have been terrible!”
”For him. If he'd struck you, you'd been so mad that nothing could have stopped you. You would have waded into him, and given him the worst thras.h.i.+ng he ever received.”
”Thot's pwhat ye would, profissor, sure as fate.”
Scotch began to revive, and the words of the boys convinced him that he was really a very brave man, and had done a most daring thing. Little by little, he began to swell, like a toad.
”I don't know but you're right,” he said, stiffening up. ”I was utterly reckless and desperate at the time.”
”That's right, professor.”
”Profissor, ye're a bad mon ter buck against.”
”That is a fact that has not been generally known, but, having cowed one of the most desperate duelists in the South, and forced him to apologize, I presume I have a right to make some pretensions.”
”That's a fact.”
”Ye've made a riccord fer yersilf.”
”And a record to be proud of,” crowed the little man, getting on his feet and beginning to strut, forgetful of the fact that he was in his night robe and presented a most ludicrous appearance. ”The events of this evening shall become a part of history. Future generations shall regard me as one of the most nervy and daring men of my age. And really, I don't know but I am. What's the use of being a coward when you can be a hero just as well. Boys, this adventure has made a different man of me. Hereafter, you will see that I'll not quail in the face of the most deadly dangers. I'll even dare to walk up to the mouth of a cannon--if I know it isn't loaded.”
The boys were forced to laugh at his bantam-like appearance, but, for all of the queer twist he had given his last expression, the professor seemed very serious, and it was plain that he had begun to regard himself with admiration.
”Think, boys,” he cried--”think of my offer to fight him with pistols across yonder narrow table!”
”That was a stroke of genius, professor,” declared Frank. ”That broke Colonel Vallier up more than anything else.”
”He wilted at that.”
”Of course you did not mean to actually fight him that way?”
”Well, I don't know,” swelled the little man. ”I was reckless then, and I didn't care for anything.”
Suddenly Frank grew grave.
”This other matter they spoke of worries me,” he said. ”I can't understand what has happened to the Queen of Flowers.”
”Ye mustn't let thot worry yez, me b'y.”
”I can't help it.”
”She may be home by this toime.”
”And she may be in desperate need of a helping hand.”
”Av she is, Oi dunno how ye can hilp her, Frankie.”
”Nor do I know of any way. Why should any one kidnap her?”
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