Here ended the first lesson. A month passed. His friends
cherished the hope that he would hear nothing more from the captain,
when another note--a challenge, of course--and another cherry-stone
arrived, with an apology, on the score of ill-health, for delay.
Again they met--fired simultaneously, and the captain, who was
unhurt, shattered the right elbow of his antagonist--the very point
upon which he had been struck with the second cherry-stone; and here
ended the second lesson. There was something awfully impressive in
the _modus operandi_ and exquisite skill of his antagonist. The third
cherry-stone was still in his possession, and the aggressor had not
forgotten that it had struck the unoffending gentleman upon the left
breast. A month passed--another--and another, of terrible suspense;
but nothing was heard from the captain.
At length, the gentleman who had been his second in the former duels
once more presented himself, and tendered another note, which, as the
recipient perceived on taking it, contained the last of the
cherry-stones. The note was superscribed in the captain's well-known
hand, but it was the writing evidently of one who wrote feebly. There
was an unusual solemnity also in the manner of him who delivered it.
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