" After the fourth
or fifth julep he did not always confine his conversation to his friend,
and so his threats often found their way back to the object of his wrath,
losing nothing by the journey. Although the Colonel's disposition was the
sunniest, the strain to which he was being subjected was telling on his
nerves, and once or twice he replied sharply to the tale-bearers. The
little city was soon excited over the quarrel, and every movement of the
principals was eagerly noted.
"My money goes on Bill," said Jule Chinn, the proprietor of the Blue-grass
Club, when the matter came up for discussion there between deals. "I saw
him plug that creole down in Orleans. First he throws him down the steps of
the St. Charles for insultin' a lady. When Frenchy insists on a duel an'
Bill gets up in front of him, he says, in that free-an'-easy way of his,
'We mark puppies up in my country by cutting their ears, and that's what
I'm going to do to you, for you ain't fit to die,' an' blame me if he don't
just pop bullets through that fellow's ears like you'd punch holes in a
piece of cheese!" After that the Colonel ruled a strong favorite in the
betting.
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