The oldest son of our master had been absent from home for sometime, nor did he return to attend his sister’s grand wedding.  He had sought and obtained a commission in the United States service as a Lieutenant.  This had been his own choice; he had preferred the service and hardships of a soldier, to a plantation well stocked with slaves, and the quietude of domestic life.  He had cheerfully given up his friends and prospects as a planter, and entered the service of his country.  Frank Helm, the second son, soon followed the example of his older brother, Lina.  He obtained a like commission, but he did not, like his brother, get along quietly.  His prospects as an officer were soon blighted, and all hope of being serviceable to his country vanished forever.

CHAPTER VII.

DUELING.

Lina Helm was an easy, good-natured, clever fellow; but his brother Frank was his opposite in nearly every thing; proud, fractious and unyielding.  As might be expected, Frank, soon after entering the army, got into an “affair of honor,” according to the duelist’s code of laws.  He was not, however, the principal in the difficulty.  One of his friends and a brother officer, had a quarrel with a gentleman whom he challenged to mortal combat.  Frank was the bearer of his friend’s challenge, and on presenting it, the gentleman refused to accept it, saying that the challenger “was no gentleman.”  Then, according to the rules of dueling, no alternative was left for Frank, but to take his brother officer’s place, and fight.  This he did and came from the bloody field disabled for life.  In consequence of his lameness, he was under the necessity of resigning his commission in the army, which he did, and came home a cripple, and nearly unfitted for any kind of business whatever.

While on the subject of dueling, permit me to record some of the incidents of another “affair of honor,” which occurred in the District of Columbia, between Gen. Mason and Mr. M’Carter, two antagonistic politicians.

M’Carter offered his vote to the inspectors, and Mason challenged it.  M’Carter offered to swear it in, when Mason said if he did so he would perjure himself.  This blew what appeared to be but a spark into an angry blaze, and a duel was momentarily expected; but their warlike propensities subsided into a newspaper combat, which was kept up for several weeks, each party supposing they had the advantage of their adversary.  In this stage of the quarrel, Gen. Jackson, with one of his aid-de-camps, Dr. Bruno, visited Washington.  Dr. Bruno was a friend of Gen. Mason’s, and to him the General submitted the correspondence, desiring his opinion relative to the advantage one had obtained over the other.  Dr. Bruno decided against his friend, which probably exasperated him still more, and the General expressed his determination to fight his antagonist.  Dr. Bruno wrote to M’Carter to come to Washington,